Snippets of Time
by Ja ne Kat
Summary: The part where they work back toward each other because they are too stubborn to just give in and let it end at that. Other info will be giving at the start of each chapter. rating currently to be safe. thanks to all who reviewed! Art by Darksongtress i thought it fit snippits
1. Feels Like the First Time

Feels Like the First Time

By Ja ne, Kat

Okay this is just to see what you guys think before i write out the multi-part story i have finished so i know what to change when i edit it and type it out. So please if you have complaints make them constructive and not just flames. flames will be feed to my cats. other then that be kind first time in this fanfiction.

OXOXOXO

The first time Sarah saw him was not really all that long after her Run. She had come from school one day to find him sound asleep on her bed. After staring at him for a few minutes she decided to let him sleep. He certainly looked as though he could use it, and he wasn't hurting anything.

Trying to remove him would cause and argument and draw the attention of Toby and her Step-mother downstairs, which was not something she'd like to try and explain to them. Besides many the inhabitants of the Underground hid out in her room without any trouble . . . why should their king be any different.

With those thoughts firmly in mind she turned her music down really low and got started on her homework. Math, while simple enough because it was completely logical, was not a fun thing to have for homework. Unfortunately for Sarah she'd had to go and talk to her chemistry during her lunch break rather than doing it then. Her final Chem. project wasn't turning out the way she wanted it to, so she'd gone to ask for ideas and help.

She'd been at her math for about an hour and actually _forgotten_ he was there, because her last problem wasn't working out to match the answer giving. Her humming stopped as her agitation increased.

"Arg! You stupid Polynomials! I WILL solve you! If I can make it Through _His_ Labyrinth then I can certainly solve something as simple as X!"

She growled her complaint at the problem under her breath, but still jerked in surprise when a gloved finger pointed to her second line down.

"You have balanced the equation wrong here, Precious."

Her head snapped around to face his, eyes wide in surprise.

"Oh! Well damn it. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to wake you up. Got lost in my homework I guess." she said as she tossed him a grin. "Sleep alright, Goblin King?"

His mismatched eyes narrowed at her for a moment, before he nodded.

"Indeed I did. Though I was expecting to be woken up when you yelled the house down. Do feel free to call me Jareth, if you please. If we are going to be formal then I shall have to call you Champion."

"I would have yelled, if only to bother you," she told him with a grin, more glad then she wanted to admit that he was there. "But my step mother is here and had just gotten Toby down for a nap . . . Do you have any clue how long that takes? Besides you didn't seem to be up to trouble and even asleep you looked totally exhausted."

"It could be that I was. Thank you for the use of your space."

It was a stiff gratitude, complete with a bow at the end.

"And you're worried about ME being formal?" she said and then laughed at his confused expression "You could have just said 'thanks Sarah'" A pause as she debated her next question. "But why here? I mean, not that I minded but couldn't you have just ordered all of your subjects out of the Castle if you wanted peace and quiet?"

Since she was watching him closely, she saw the exact moment his expression closed down and shut her out, and for some unknown reason her own grin faded with it.

"Does it matter so much to you? The _why_ of it?"

No, it didn't, Sarah decided. Not if it was going to ruin the civil and mostly pleasant conversation they had been having. She had been so afraid since she had uttered those final words and had tossed away his almost too tempting offer that that would BE the last she saw of him. He would never get to hear her tell him that she _wanted_ badly what he had offered her... just not at the price he was charging. That he would never know how very sorry she was for the whole thing. Not that she regretted it, for she would never be able to _regret_ meeting him, but she regretted that she had made the **wrong wish**.

"No, it doesn't really, only have you eaten?"

The abrupt change of topic seemed to throw him for a moment as he blinked owlishly at her.

"Pardon?"

She shook her head and waved him over to her recliner by the window.

"Here, sit for a minute. I'll be right back. No glittery vanishing tricks."

Edict giving she headed downstairs to poke her head into her father's office.

"Hey dad? I'm kind of full up on homework tonite. You might have to watch Toby by yourself when Karen goes out."

He smiled at his daughter and nodded to his son safely set up in the home offices far corner.

"Yes Karen mentioned that you looked a little bogged down when I got in. No worries I think I've got it. You make sure your school work gets down and if I need you I'll just call. Don't forget to grab some soup."

"I won't. In fact I was just on my way to get some."

Being Wednesday, Karen always made soup. Since Sarah only had one class in the afternoon she sometimes ate lunch late after class. Karen had to eat early before leaving for her pottery class and her father often worked late. So, soup was made and left to warm in the crock pot so that the family could help themselves when they got hungry.

A grin still on her face, she headed into the kitchen and quickly set up a tray with two bowls of soup, 2 sandwiches, a slice of peach pie left from yesterday and added two cokes. Food collected she headed back up to here room glad that her father's office was on the side of the stairs farthest from the kitchen. Elbowing her door open should him still sitting in her recliner stiffly, but _there_ all the same, which was a pleasant surprise.

"Here dinner, before you have to go back to work, sorry it isn't as fancy as you're probably used to. Karen makes the BEST soup however and it always cheers me up after a rough day." After saying so she placed the tray carefully on his lap before reaching out and grabbing her soup and sandwich and putting them on the vanity before grabbing her coke and opening it.

"What is it?" he asked her in a hushed sort of voice.

She turned to stare at him for a second, but it seemed a genuine enough question that she just answered it. Could an immortal and magical being have allergies?

"Its chicken soup and I made ham and swiss sandwich to go with it. A coke to wash it down with and last night's peach pie for dessert. I wasn't sure how much you could eat but I figured this was a good start. If you're still hungry after I can go back down and get you some more soup."

A sly smirk at her explanation, which caused her to feel a sense of foreboding.

"And where is your dessert Precious?"

She quickly lowered her eyes to her food so he couldn't see them and shrugged her shoulders.

"The soup and sandwich is tons of food for me. I wouldn't be able to eat pie on top of that."

That said she raised her sandwich and took a bite and began eating. Which seemed to confuse him for a minute but he started eating soon after. They ate in silence that was surprisingly not awkward, and let Sarah get back to her homework finishing her last math problem and moving on to the outline she had to do for her Macbeth essay.

"Finally." she breathed after another 30 minutes, and looking up showed her an empty chair with the dishes stack neatly on top of it, seemingly cleaned. A piece of paper tucked under them to hold it in place.

_Precious._

_Thank you for your hospitality, and dinner was actually quite good. You were concentrating so hard on your essay points for the importance of magic in 'the Scottish play' that I didn't was to disturb your work. I feel the need to point out that while you have avoided using the witches themselves because they are too obvious, you should still mention them so that you essay is complete. They are the personification of magic in the play and their whole "fair is foul, and foul is fair" opening scene states the purpose of the play. Magic tells the audience the point._

_Jareth G.K_

If he'd seen her points he'd been gone maybe only 5 minutes and helped ease the disappointment of finding the empty chair, and besides for some reason the note made her smile. Reading it through one last time she then tucked it into the, till them nearly empty, bottom vanity drawer.

The other items in the drawer?

A small figure of the Fair-haired King the chair had just held.

And a small play-book with a well worn red leather cover with gold embossed lettering stating only:

**The Labyrinth.**

OXOXOXOXOX

Thanks for Reading!

Ja ne

Kat


	2. The Truth in the Smell

The Truth in the Smell

Ja ne, Kat

As far as i know the French is correct, but it has been years since i took it so please correct if it wrong. Thank you to Belladonna for the corrections. my laptop is kind of beat up though so the marks that go over and under? Yea that button broke. At some point I will copy and paste it though not to worry.

OXOXOXOX

The next time was more her fault then his. She was having absolutely no luck with the last section of her chemistry project and it was worth 20% of her final mark, worse her teacher had liked it enough to sign it up for the district science fair. She had most of it done and turned in, but she had to revel what had gone into making it at the end. So, not _only_ could she not replicate it, but she couldn't just turn in some of the original either.

"Didymus?" she called softly into the mirror. She had learned early on that it didn't matter how loud or softly she said their names, as long as she **could** say them, they would hear.

She had just gotten finished with her French homework when his voice drew her attention back up to the mirror.

"You called me, Milady?"

She smiled warmly at him. Didymus had a way of always making her feel better. No matter how awful the day.

"I did, good sir knight. Can you put a little of the bog into this vial for me?"

At his disheartened expression she knew what the answer was before he opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry, Milady, but I cannot. It is a part of the Labyrinth and hence forth magic. You would need the ruling Monarchs permission to remove any of the kingdoms magic beyond its borders."

"Could you tell me how he made it then?"

"The Bog?"

"No. . . Well kind of. Just the smell. I want to remake it for a project, but nothing I've put together seems to be as awful."

"Again Milady, the bog smells not at all to me. I am sorry I could not be of more assistance."

"No. it's my own fault Didymus. I thought with a sample I would have a better shot at remaking it, and your right I should have remembered that it doesn't smell to you." on a sigh she dropped her head onto the vanity. "Maybe if I see Jareth before it's due I'll ask him how he did it."

"As you wish, Milady."

As the mirror faded back to show her the room, the reflection showed that the recliner yet again held a Fair-haired king. This time draped in it sideways, and seemingly much more comfortable there then the last time.

"Jareth!" a breathless squeak of surprise as she spun to face him, to make sure he _really_ was there and not just her imagination, which cause his smirk to grow bigger as his eyes darted to her school books.

"Bonjour Chere, Comment ca va?"

Her brain stumbled at the drop dead sexy way the French sounded coming out of his mouth, which was the only excuse she had for how long it took her to give her response.

"Oui, c'est va tres bien."

She was sure planes could have landed using only her blush as their landing light and it caused his smirk become a dark version of his usual arrogance and his eyes to darken, which annoyed her to no end.

"Come to borrow my bed again?" she tossed out quickly hoping to divert and teasing he was surely planning.

"I came to see why you called me, as I was working on nothing pressing at the time, Precious."

She hadn't called him had she? She had called Didymus . . . Who she had mentioned his name too, and as long as she could _say_ it, it could be **heard**.

"I hadn't actually meant to call you. I was talking to Didymus and your name came up."

"Came up? How so, Sarah mine?"

"I mentioned something that I wanted to ask you."

"Well as I am here now you can ask away."

Oh he was going to laugh himself silly at her expense she was sure but . . . in for a penny.

"I'm trying to recreate how your bog smells."

"You have been unsuccessful." It wasn't a question, so she just nodded to confirm. "May I ask why you would do such a thing?"

"My final chemistry project is how the brain reacts to the chemical make-up of different smells and helps to trigger memories as a way to help people with memory issues. I have one for Holiday's . . ." Saying so she reached under her bed for the wooden box that held her samples and, pulling out the first black painted jar, handed it to him. He looked at it for a moment before carefully unscrewing the lid so some of the smell escaped.

"Pine, Cinnamon and apples." he told her.

"Christmas." she confirmed with a nod before handing him the next. "One for food."

The smell made him smile and shake his head.

"Coco and vanilla . . . cookies?"

"Yes Hoggle insisted. Said my cookies always make his day." his looked turned dark at that so she quickly handed him the next one, not wanting to be the cause for her friend getting in trouble with his King.

"Lemon?" he said sending her a quizzical look.

"Cleanliness. Or at least that's what most people up here think of when they smell it. I just need one for a bad memory but . . . as I mentioned it hasn't been working out quite right."

"It would be illegal for you to remake it, Sarah mine."

"But . . . why?"

He shook his head at her and for some reason she thought he suddenly looked _old_, as if she'd just shoved him into Atlas's place without warning and without pity.

"Jareth? Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?"

"No . . . I just forget how . . . _young_ you are sometimes." A pause as he considered her. "Are you sure you want this answer Precious? It isn't a pretty one."

He seemed relieved when she actually paused to think about it.

"Yes. I'm sure."

"Have you ever wondered why the smell doesn't bother you're so valiant friend?"

"Oh . . . **lots** of times." Sarah told him with a small smile, hoping to ease the nearly pained look creeping on his face.

"It is a smell all soldiers train themselves to ignore as battlefields _always_ smell like that." A pause as he took a deep breath and turned to stare out her window.

"It is . . . _people_ . . . the dead, the dying and all the mess that that entails. Bowels loosening, entrails spilled all over, brain and other bits of gore left to rot and decay in the sun. Over all of that the over powering smell of the survivors fear, because tomorrow they may be the next body left on the pile."

Since he was still staring out the window he was surprise when the next second found him trapped under Sarah's body. Her arms around his neck, head tucked under his chin and comfortably situated in his lap.

"I'm so sorry Jareth. I didn't mean to cause you more pain. Did you lose many friends?"

She raised watery green eyes to impossibly wide mismatched ones as he marvelled at her insight. Instead of answering her question and going into memories better left alone he pulled her more snugly against him and settled for giving her a history lesson. A crystal holding the shadow show, he had once been shown as a child long ago, in his hand for her to watch.

_Long ago, when the worlds were new the biggest battle Underground has ever seen took place on the land where the Labyrinth now sits and __**has**__ sat since the battle was ended. It is the oldest Structure in existence . . . anywhere or when._

_It was said in those day that the Heart of Magic was kept on those, then empty and desolate, lands. Hidden cleverly in the warren of tunnels that ran under the sands and sun there and offered shelter to those who needed it. Every magical King sent their armies in search of it, hoping to use its power to make themselves one of the most powerful creatures in existence._

_The war continued for countless years with still no end in sight, until the Powers That Be created the Labyrinth to guard it. The bodies of the uncountable dead sent in vain to search for it were piled in the middle of the ever shifting maze and over the Eons became the bog you went through on your run._

She reached up and tilted his head down to face hers before leaning up to press a light kiss to his forehead

"So now in death they are forced to protect that which they once sought to steal, the universe really is full of its little ironies." she said seriously looking at him. "Well I guess that explains why I had such a hard time trying to remake the smell." she gave him another hug before she got off him and headed over to put her jars back in the box. "Well any ideas on what I could use instead?"

"If you had a bin we could always stuff a goblin in it. The newer ones always smell foul."

"Ah but I have to be able to say how I made the smell. I don't think anyone will believe captive goblin."

"And you are trying to invoke a memory?"

She just nodded at his question and watched as he tapped his fingers to his lips in thought.

"Burn something."

"What?"

"Burn something. I'm sure nearly everyone has a memory of burned food if nothing else."

A bright flash of a smile as she dashed out of the room and down the stairs, Shouting for her step mother to pick up something called 'popcorn' when she went to the market the next day. The joy she seemed to radiate caused him to smile before vanishing with a whispered . . .

"You are welcome, Precious thing."

OXOXOXOX

Okay! Part Two done. Go me! Two parts in one day!


	3. The Price for Bad Choices

The Price of Bad Choices.

OXOXOX

He was sitting on his throne in all his court finery, agitated at having to wait for the appointed time for his summons when he felt it next. His name whispered brokenly in a wet pain-filled voice.

"Please Jareth, if you can hear me I . . . I need you, please."

His worry for her had him teleporting to where she was instantly without thinking to check the location she was in first. _**His**_ champion should never sound that sad, not while he was still able to do something about it. So, he ended up standing in a large room with warm yellow walls and 3 long brown couches around in a U-shape facing the fireplace on the empty side and plush soft carpeting under foot. All this secondary to the girl he found crumpled in the middle of those couches, hair a curtain around her, school bag dumped on the floor off to the side, and the now almost 3 year old Toby asleep on the west facing couch behind her.

"My Precious thing . . . what has happened?" He asked the words softly to her, as he knelt down carefully beside her where she'd collapsed. Trying not to wrinkle his formal court wear and quite happy to magic the damnable circlet off his head.

"I. . . the . . ." She shook her head and gave up trying to speak as she tossed herself into his arms, sobbing pieces of her heart into his shoulder, and the pain in those were strong enough he almost wanted to cry.

"I cannot fix anything until you tell me what is wrong Sarah." he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed small circles on her back as if she was one of the babes he often cared for, all thoughts about his outfit and obligations to his father dismissed and forgotten at the sight and heartbreak of her pain. His nearness seemed to help as she unconsciously matched her breathing to his and managed to tell him what was wrong in broken sentences.

"A . . . drunk driver hit my father's car with his car. Karen pulled me out of school right after third period and left Toby with me while she went to wait at the hospital."

His heart sank at the news. Of all the things she could need him from and of him, why did it have to be this. Her father didn't even _believe_ in magic so he could not even rewind time for the man.

"I am so much more than sorry to tell you this Precious, but I am not a very accomplished healer."

"I **didn't** call you because I thought you would snap your fingers and make it all magically better." she told him a little angrily. "I just . . . I only wanted . . . Please Jareth will you stay with me while I wait. I don't want to wait here all alone, I'm afraid I might go insane. I simply need your company."

"I can stay but. . . I have clue where to start to make this better."

It hurt more then he thought possible to admit that to her.

"Just . . . talk to me. _Anything_ will do. What are _your _parents like?"

He blinked at the suddenness of the question. Had someone magiked his Sarah to pump him for information? An enemy of his or his family's maybe. Did she just want to know for herself? As sort of one up in the game they played. A quick once over with his magic told him to only magic's on her were the ones he had set in place.

TALK, she'd told him. Something to distract her was what she wanted of him, something to take her mind of her own pain and worry.

"Ah . . ." he began haltingly. He had not ever talked of them to someone who did not already know them. "My father was usually a good king. He rules over the lands of the Fae and the people there adore their king. My mother rules the Queendom of the Fairies, a gentle woman that I always remember as having a frightening temper when roused, and being as ruthless in business as she was in politics."

She nodded against his chest and pushed him back so he was leaning against the couch and she was leaning against him, his leg straight out in front of him, her draped sideway on his lap.

"We're acting a Toby's walls so he doesn't fall off and wake up." she told him softly. "So they are? were? good rulers for the most part?"

"Yes."

Again a nod, before she blinked up at him quizzically.

"But I asked you what they were like as **parents**."

He debated for a second, but his want to ease her distress won out over his hard learned paranoia.

"Much different." He paused to consider the question. It had been many, many years since he had tried to think of them as something other than the rulers of opposing countries.

"My father was a _King_ first and a father second, but indulgent when he could be. When I first expressed a desire to learn music, the Council of Advisors denied my request right away. It was not a fitting skill for a future king OR soldier. Any extra time I had should be devoted to my studies in those areas and not spent wasting time on such frivolous things. A few months later on my next birthday my father awoke me before dawn to give me my gift. A child's flute and a book with instructions on how to play it, as hiring a teacher would give our secret away."

"Do you still have it?" She whispered, fitting herself more snugly against him.

He did. Even when banished, the memory had meant too much to him to simply leave it behind. No matter how much pain looking it had caused him at that moment in time. So he had packed it with the rest of the things he had taken and even played it for him and his guide on their long trek.

"And here I thought you would have learned your lesson about curiosity." Since the words got him an annoyed glare that he was only too happy to see upon her face, he flicked her nose before giving her the answer. "I do in fact. In a spell locked chest that the goblins cannot get into."

He was grateful for causing the flash of a smile on her face before her next question.

"And your mother?"

"Was a _MOTHER_ first and a ruler second, and we shall be here all day if I tell you everything **she** gave to me."

"How about you tell me your favourite memory of her?"

He had to think about that for a minute, it was so long ago and he had many good memories of her.

"Ruling two different lands meant that one year was spent in my father's lands and the next in my mother's until I came of age. One year when my father delivered me to her castle, I was maybe ten by your standards I was badly injured in a tournament that the Council had insisted on my participation in. It was for those who had only just hit adulthood and wanted a place in the armies of my father. They argue bitterly over it, right there in the main hall in front of the servants and all of her court, a move very unlike her. It was the first time I had heard them argue so. My oldest sister came to take me up to my room and inspect the healing that had been done so far and found it lacking. My mother stormed in minutes later and wrapped me up in her arms for several minutes before inspecting me herself, ordering all the court healers out, she would heal me herself to make sure it was done correctly. The next day I spent with my sisters at the market in town being allowed to stuff myself sick with sweets."

He smiled into her hair.

"Which is always a good memory for any boy." he whispered in her ear as if it was a secret and found himself inordinately please by the small giggle he drew from her.

"Later I found out my mother had spent that day threatening my father's Council with war if I was harmed while under their kingdoms care again, as entering me in such a tournament was a clear violation of the accord they had. Then telling my father that she did not give a damn what the council said, as my father how could he let me be place in such a potentially dangerous situation and that she wasn't handed me over for at least two years to make up for the breach of contract, not without a dammed good reason and that she would see herself out."

"That's a good memory?" The confusing in her voice caused him to ruffle her hair, simply because he could.

"Very. For starters, at that time the Council basically ruled my father's country through fear and not very many people had the strength of will to stand up to them. More though my mother was a natural healer, so she was very even tempered and rarely bothered to argue at all."

"But she was willing to go to war for you." Understanding clear now in her voice.

"Indeed. So, done probing into my past now?"

"Well maybe bu-"

Her words were cut off by a shrill ring that seemed to fill the room around them and had Sarah's arms tightening on his waist before slowly reaching for the phone.

"H-hello?"

The other person on the line was brief but Sarah had a smile on her face when she was done.

"That was Karen. My dad will be okay but he has some pretty bad burns, a broken arm, 3 broken ribs, a fractured ankle and a real bad concussion, with time they expect him to recover." Relief in her voice and on her face.

"I am glad for you then." he said giving her hand a small squeeze. He went to move to get up, maybe they would not notice that he was late, but her arms tightened around him as she took a deep breath.

"Thank you so much for staying to keep me company, and more for distracting me. I can't imagine the trust it must have taken for you to tell me all that. Honest Jareth it means a whole lot to me and I completely owe you a favour."

"Careful Precious, what said _IS_ said remember? Things like that are not merely words when said to me."

"I remember, but honest, it means enough to me that I owe you at least one favour . . . and Jareth?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are your- Do your parents STILL rule?"

"Yes of course. Why?"

"Then I hope I will get to meet them someday."

"If I am very lucky maybe someday you will."

And then he was gone.

OXOXOXOX

Thank you so much to those the read the first two chapters. I had intended for this to be a way to test out these Characters before posting my looong story but you guys seemed to like it so much that I have one and a half more chapters after this.

Belladonna- thank you soo much for correcting me. I'm not sure if you have an account, one didn't pop up on your review so I'm thanking you here.

Lauren- I did as you both suggested and took the one shot part out so maybe I'll have better luck this time.

Thank you both so much!

And I am trying to take the contractions out of Jareth's speech patterns so if I miss one give me a heads up and the chapter so I can fix it.

Ja ne

Kat


	4. The Cost of Friendship

The Cost of Friendship

OXOXOXOX

The next time was in the dead of night a few weeks after her father's accident. The flash of him appearing in her bedroom waking her and she was glad he had magically sound proofed the room so sound could come in but not out. She was sure the scream she let out could have woken the DEAD.

"Sarah?"

"OH MY GOD! You scared the life out of me!"

"I apologize. I did not mean to wake you."

"What are you doing here at . . ." a pause as she glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table. "5:30 in the MORNING! Are you insane?"

The damnable smirk he sent her had her gritting her teeth.

"Are you not happy to see me Sweetling?"

"Not in the middle of the night when I have an exam in the morning!" she reminded him angrily.

"Exam?"

She must have complained to him about her math final four times already just this week. For goodness sake he had quizzed her on it just two nights ago . . . she had just as she opened her mouth to blast him one for pulling this trick on her when the _name_ he'd used hit her hard. Jareth only EVER call her a few things. Precious, Precious thing, Sarah, Sarah mine and since keeping her company, Pet. So she took a deep breath and shook her head as if trying to wake up.

"Yes for English remember? You were helping me with it."

"Ah . . . that's today?"

"Okay mister who are you and what the HELL have you done to Jareth?" she demanded sitting up.

"Are you still half-asleep? Or are you feeling unwell, Sarah?" A logical calm question but . . .

Her instincts were telling her something was VERY wrong here. She slid her hand slowly under her pillow for the heavy metal flashlight she kept there in case of emergencies. Not an ideal weapon but ANYTHING was better than nothing.

"I am only going to ask you one more time, what have you done to the Goblin king?"

"Now, now Sweetling-"

"JARETH! HOGGLE! DIDYMUS! HELP ME!"

"Well there's no way he's missed that."

The body seemed to melt into another form as Sarah's brain registered that the voice sounded like a female's. The woman now standing in front of her was lovely with pale, clear skin and golden blonde hair that fell in waves down her back, her eyes a sharks black. Sarah bolted to her knees, the long flash light held in front of her like a Billy-club and ridiculously glad she had worn shorts and a spaghetti strap shirt to bed, easier to move in then some of her night gowns, with the added bonus of not flashing who she was fighting.

"What do you want from me? You better NOT have hurt him or I swear to god I will-"

"Precious?"

THERE was the voice she was waiting for! He was wearing plain linen clothes, a white squires shirt and brown pants ridding dangerously low on his hips. Her warning to him was cut off as the strange woman launched herself at him . . . literally. Her legs wrapped around his waist and arms about his neck.

"JARETH!" she cheered at him. "I! MISSED! YOU!" She sing-songed from wrapped around him before planting a big wet kiss on his check.

They sort of reminded Sarah of herself and Toby when she came in the door after school and his put upon sigh only added to the effect.

"Gwen, mind telling me what you think you are doing disturbing Lady Sarah in the middle of the night?"

His voice was stern and he had finally managed to untangle the woman from around him and get her standing again. The other woman almost seemed to quiver with excitement and she bounced on her toes a little.

"It's not my fault! Well not entirely! Just a little math mistake, I swear! Time flows so strangely up here and I miscalculated."

The statement seemed to remind the other woman that Sarah was still there in the room with them, because she turned and bowed formally to the young girl still crouched on her bed.

"I'm so sorry for the time mishap, Lady Sarah."

This, of course, drew Jareth's attention back to the girl still standing, ready to defend herself.

"Precious, I must say that, while not what I have always envisioned, your bedclothes are still quite charming. Though I do feel the need to inquire as to what the flash light is used for."

Oh and _now_ there was a dual version of that smirk as the two of them grinned at her. He knew damn well what it was for and if not she had half a mind to _SHOW_ him. They had gotten her up in the middle of the night just to tease her? He so completely deserved to be brained. A quick breath to keep hold of her temper as her wish long ago had taught her to do.

"Okay. Not to seem completely rude here, but I really do have an _exam_ in the morning. So could one of you tell me what the _hell_ is going on here?"

"An excellent question, however there is just one thing first, Genevieve, Queen of Nymphs, please meet the Lady Sarah, Champion of the Labyrinth. Precious I introduce you to Gwen my youngest sister."

The flash light fell from suddenly boneless fingers as Sarah studied the woman with renewed interest. She looked _nothing_ like her brother other then having the same slight dancers build . . . and of course the smirk. A slight bow from the woman, as the Queen acknowledged a Knight.

"Lady Sarah. It is my great pleasure to finally meet you in person." The words were stiff and formal after the . . . girl's previous behaviour.

"It would be a pleasure for me too except for the odd hour of the day."

"Then I shall come back another time when it is more convenient for you. My-"

Her words were cut off as Jareth grabbed her wrist.

"You still owe the Lady Sarah an explanation Gwen."

She pouted at him for a minute before giving in under his stern gaze.

"I wanted only to _meet_ her! Everyone in court was talking about how she managed to beat you, _and then_, you skipped Papa's birthday ball . . . in direct violation of his orders, I might add. You never come to visit me anymore so that I can ask you about these things, so I decided that coming to meet her was the fastest way to clear all of this up. Jareth?"

Another long suffering sigh from the only male in the room.

"Yes Gwen, what is it now?"

"I like her! Her very first thought was to worry about your safety." A smile tossed up at the Goblin King before she turned to Sarah. "Lady Sarah, please I am truly sorry for my math mistake and would love to meet you at a time and place of your choosing. Simply say my name and title and I will come."

With that she vanished and Sarah was left staring at the spot where she had been till a crystal filled her vision, which drew her eyes back up to his mismatched ones.

"Jareth?"

A slight smile on his face, one she had been worried she would never see again. Even though it was only for a handful of seconds . . . her heart had stopped when she had realized it _was not_ him and she did not how to get to where he was if he was in trouble, and would not get to tell him all she needed too.

"The three hours I took during your run, I thought since Gwen is technically my fault you could use it to get back the sleep she has just caused you to lose."

She tossed him a grateful smile as she finally slid down the wall to sit on her bed. More tired than she would care to admit. Helping to taking care of her father and then Toby and studying on top of it all, was starting to wear on her.

"Thank god. Between your sister and the extra studying I did last evening I was starting to worry I would sleep through it."

"You could always thank _me_ instead . . ." He tossed out, rolling his eyes at her, so she would know he was kidding, but the words caused her to think back to those seconds and something Gwen had said about missing a party. She nodded to him as she moved to the edge of the bed and stood on it again to drop a chaste kiss on his lips, ignoring the sizzle of magic and heat that spread through her as she did so and the _pull_ of him that always seemed to be there. Even when she had just thought him a character in a book it was because of him that the book was her favourite, the reason that she continued to read it again and again. He pulled at her and she was starting to think he always would, which she figured, meant she owed him much more then a simple thank you but it seemed the best way to start.

"I could, and in fact, I think that I will. Thank you Jareth for expanding God only knows how much magic so that I can do well on my exam. Thank you so, so much for getting in trouble with your own father so that I didn't go insane worrying about mine. Thank you for _granting_ my petty wish and taking my brother, and for giving me the chance to get him back that forced me to grow up. And though it may surprise you, I _honestly_ do want to thank you for dancing with me in that ballroom and not leaving me to wander around lost and out of place, even if you did let them tease me first. Because what's said _is_ said and I will never regret having said my right words. If I hadn't said them I would never have met you and _that_ is the one thing I will never regret."

She would remember that look of dumbstruck wonder on his face for as long as she lived, as the first completely honest moment between them. Her gratitude and growing feelings for him were shinning in her eyes, she knew, and the ones he had for her, that he desperately tried hard to hide so as not to scare her, were lit up by the hope in his. It was followed by a tiny but true smile that softened the angles of his face.

"For you Precious, I would give everything within my power."

It was the last thing she heard before he tossed the crystal into the air above them.

OXOXOXOXOX

He reached out and caught her sleeping form as the spell took hold and laid her out carefully on her bed. He took his time tucking her back in and placing a kiss to the top of her head, enjoying the simple contact with her, before placing the flash light on the bedside table.

Then he stood straight and simply watched her sleep peacefully for a minute before leaning over to whisper in her ear.

"No, thank you Sarah mine. Thank you for challenging me in those tunnels and forcing me to actually have to try to win, forcing me to actually _live_. Thank you for understanding my subjects and for not wanting them to be something other then what they are. Thank you for giving them and _myself_ and place to **R****un** too. Thank you for beating my Labyrinth and for loving you brother enough to turn me down _and_ risk growing up and old. Thank you so much for trusting me when you found me asleep in your room and for worrying over what might have happened to me."

Then a shower of glitter as the room was still once more.

OXOXOXOXOX

Phew! Okay i know some of you really wanted to meet his parents but the Idea for Gwen got stuck in my head and so here you are, a sister instead. i only have a few more of these actually written out, as i have said from the start this was just to test how well i could write in this fanfiction, so i hope you will all be kind when this starts to slow down and i post my multi-chapter fic

Thank Again to

Lauren

Belladonna

and Person3162012

For all your kind reviews so far!

Ja ne,

Kat


	5. The Importance of Invitations

The Importance of Invitations.

Ja ne

Kat.

PHEW! I'M SORRY! I STILL LOVE YOU GUYS!

Umm, i did finally post my other Lab story and that on top of the DA2 one means that I'm EVEN slower. I so should not have done it but . . . i loved the other story too. Anyway here we go it is a little short but still cute!

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Person3162012- lol, To see how she treated him of course! why else borrow his shape? **There will be more family** after this chapter but I'm betting you guys won't like the next one as much as you guys liked Gwen.

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Belladonna- You're right and I was really glad to see two reviews from you, you always say something nice or point out mistakes thank you so, so much!

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Lauren- Of course you got mentioned hon, you've reviewed right since the start and I'm glad you think more people will like this, anyway i hope you like this one as much as the last. i love Gwen in this chapter just making her own plans. . . though she's not in the next couple.

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MiserysNightmare- I'm so glad you don't think I'm missing anything. The reviews for my other Lab fic are very nice and very kind but . . . they all think it's missing something. Not dark enough, not funny enough i was so glad when your review came in that you had said that, i can't even tell you.

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I ALSO confess i didn't have all that much time to proof this either so please please forgive the mistakes in this chapter i will fix it in the next couple of days! it will mostly be grammer ones. the new program i have doesn't look for those and i'm so, so sad about that.

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**The Importance of Invitations.**

oxoxoxox

She had been fending off hopeful and horny boys for a month and a half, and her step-mothers prying questions and suggestions for at least twice that long before her temper snapped the leash she tried to keep on it.

"No Karen, I **don't **_have_ to have a date for the prom! More, I don't _want_ one and certainly not some random stranger. If I _HAD_ wanted a date I could have accepted any of the dozen or so offers I've had at school. So please STOP asking."

Her bedroom door closed with a resounding bang that rattled the windows.

"My, my Sweetling, you really DO have a temper."

The blonde had met Sarah for coffee a week after all her exams were finished and the two had fast become friends, much to Jareth's constant dismay. It was hard to be mad at the blonde, Sarah had found out. You always ended up feeling like you had kicked a puppy because the woman was just so damnably cheery.

"_That's_ nothing. You should have seen it before your brother and his pet maze got a hold of me."

A quick flash of the other girls smug grin.

"Speaking of my brother, why not just ask him to go with you? It would get your step-mother off your back and you would have a reason to give the boys at school when you turn them down."

Gwen had insisted on a glamour that was Sarah's age so that she could be invited over as a real friend. She had told Sarah's parents that they had met at the junior theater competition while her private school had been participating.

"I'm quite sure he has better things to do then play escort for me to a dance with a bunch of immature teenagers who will spend most of the evening trying to sneak in booze, drugs or sex just to prove how 'grown up' they are." Sarah tossed out bitterly. She did not want Jareth to see her in such a spectacle.

"Do you not want to go with him?" The usual cheer was gone from that normally warm voice and, after seeing the closed look on the other girls face, Sarah sighed and gave her the truth.

"I _want_ to, but not if he's going to spend the whole night wishing he was somewhere else, **with** someone else. I want it to be a fun and special memory, not a burden."

Gwen paused and Sarah watched as she turned the words over and over in her mind. Picking them apart and making and discarding plans as she went, before her sunshine smile once more found it's way back on to her face.

"Well then, why don't we do this. You can invite him and I will compromise a little, teeny, tiny bit and invite the man my father is trying to engage me to. That way I'll have you and Jareth for back up when I met him and we can all make sure that the night is fun together!"

The blonde cheered jumping up from the chair she was sitting in, half a million other plans probably racing through her mind. Sarah considered the request. The blonde nymph had told Sarah that she was worried about meeting the man her fathers was trying to trade her off to because he was a dragon and, of course, Heir to the throne. Dragons, Gwen had told her, had a notoriously short temper, and most people couldn't handle her almost never ending cheeriness on good days. She didn't want to have to marry a man that was going to spend more then half his time annoyed with her.

"Well . . . If you're sure. I have to warn you though, it won't be as fancy as any of you will be used to."

The other woman was already off and running with the idea.

"We can go dress shopping together!" She proclaimed standing up, and decree made, she dashed over to give Sarah a hug.

"Okay! That settles it then! _You, will _invite Jareth and I will set up things on my end, and then we will go DRESS SHOPPING on Saturday!"

Then poof gone with one last smile tossed in Sarah's direction, small rain drops falling on the rug where she had been standing. Only then did it truly hit Sarah what she'd just agreed to do.

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She had to invite the _Goblin King_ to her **prom**!

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"And I don't know how to dance out side of my dreams!"

"Milady?" She spun to see her favourite knight framed in her mirror.

"Didymus! I'm so glad to see you! You know Jareth better then anyone I know other then Gwen. How do you ask him a favour?"

"It is not a question you could simply ask? I was under the impression that the two of you had become friends."

"It's . . . silly and . . . And it will probably seem childish to him." She told him eyes on her feet.

"Is it important to you, Milady?"

She shrugged trying to act unconcerned. It was one thing to lie to her parents, it was not something she did to her friends.

"I was just going to go solo despite what Karen wanted, but then Gwen decided that it would be a good place to meet the man her father is trying to offer her up to, so . . ."

"Is there a reason your Step-Mother wanted you to have an escort?"

"Alcohol and other _things_ get snuck in that . . . Sometimes let boys take advantages of girls without a fight."

She couldn't think of any other way to say it so he would understand.

"Is it a real concern? Or simply a parents worry, lady?"

"It happened to a girl two years ago."

"Then you should have an escort, Lady Sarah."

Sarah felt her eyes widen. He looked the same but the voice that had come out of the little knights mouth sounded _nothing_ like it normally did.

"There is little reason for you to make of yourself an easy victim when there are people willing to go with you and keep you safe. If you are uncomfortable asking his Highness then I will go with you if needs be. "

His voice had become a smooth alto, with an accent she couldn't place colouring the words. For a second, just a flash that most people would have ignored there was something _much_ bigger over shadowing the little knight. Then gone and the knight that was her friend staring at her oh so seriously.

"Thank you kind, sir. I will ask Jareth first though, because Gwen will be expecting him."

He stared at her for a few more moment before nodding his acceptance of her answer.

"Do not forget to ask then, Lady Sarah."

The mirror when blank and Sarah wrapped her arms around herself as she moved to stand before her window in the sun, far more disturbed then she wanted to admit. She barely kept herself from screaming as gloved hands slid up and down her arms.

"Cold are we, Precious thing?"

She shook her head and stilled his hands using her hold on them to draw his arms around her.

"No . . . just nerves and strangely, Didymus." With her back to him she couldn't see his face but the pause before his next words told her that her answer was not quite what he'd been expecting and he was trying to decided which question he wanted to ask.

"Nerves about . . .?"

It was her turn to be surprised as the choice of question was not what she had expected. She shrugged in his arms, grateful that he hadn't moved from the position she'd placed them in, and laced her fingers through his.

"Your sister wants to know if . . .-" She cut herself off before she could finish the sentence and shook her head. She was _not_ a coward and she wasn't about to start here and now when it was so important for her to be strong. "No. No, that's an easy-out, and not at all what I want to ask you. May I start over again?"

"By all means, Sarah."

He'd picked up on something, she was sure, because he never called her by only her name unless it was important. She tightened her hold on his hands and took a deep breath for courage before turning in his arms to face him. It wouldn't change anything, she reminded herself. If he said no, they would still remain friends and she would continue with her plan to go solo and meet Gwen and her date. So, she slid herself out of his arms and he reluctantly let her go. A pause to stare at him for a moment before she dropped into one of his old fashioned bows and held her hand out toward him.

"I would be honoured if you, Jareth, King of the Goblins would consent to be my escort to senior prom."

Absolute silence took hold of the room for a second before she heard him move, grabbing her hand and pulling her back into his arms.

"It is, of course and honour to be asked to be your escort anywhere Precious thing, only what is a prom?"

A small laugh as she let her head rest on his chest and wrapped her arms around him.

"A dress-up party for the graduates. Like a modern version of a coming of age ceremony." She told him with a small shrug.

A small smile slid onto his face as he leaned back enough to see her face.

"So it is a ball of some fashion. Will there be dancing?"

She blushed to her ears and dropped her head so he couldn't read anything off her face, not wanting him to know the only time _she'd_ danced had been with the Fae holding her.

"Yes." she felt more the saw him nod.

"And you will not run away from me this time?"

She laughed and spun out of his arms to fall back onto her bed. Wanting a little distance between them for her next confession.

"Since I really didn't _want_ to last time and my brother will be safely home in bed? No. I'm sorry to tell you, that you're going to be stuck with me till the evening is over."

A very _Goblin King _smirk found it's home on his face as he stalked over to the bed to stare down at her.

"Oh no my dear, dear Sarah. It will most certainly be you who will be stuck with me."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

I'm sorry! Honest! I had lots of things to post and lots of people have gone on vacation where I work so there is a lot of shift covering during the summer months. I hope you all like this and I'm sorry that it's a little short but I had two days off and figured that you guys had waited so quietly that you so earned an update.

The next section of this IS NOT the prom so please don't nag me to write that part. I have no clue if I will write that part, hell i didn't want to go to my OWN prom. But the next part is fun! I cover the age old '_why_ Sarah?' in the next bit but it will take AWHILE to get done writing and posted so I'm sorry. I have to post an update for my Other labyrinth fic and another chapter for my DA2 one.

OH! If you've read both my Lab fics please let me know, I want to put those reviews in there own folder, so can take an extra careful look at them. Thank you in advance!

I love the Fandom YOU"RE ALL SO AWESOME!

JA NE!

Kat


	6. Collecting the Important Pieces

**Collecting the Important Pieces.** Part 1

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The next time something odd happened she found herself summoned _to _him, but not the _him_ she knew. She'd opened her eyes to a fancy, yet barren room. It was richly furnished but with no mementos or hell even clothes to show that someone lived in it.

"_What_ do you think you are doing in here?"

The eerily familiar accent and arrogance had her spinning around to face him, only he wasn't who she expected to see. He appeared no older then maybe 16, though he had told her Fae aged slowly so that probably meant nothing. His hay coloured hair was long and held together in a leather thong, his eyes an unnerving matched blue.

"_Jareth?"_ She whispered to him, hoping against hope that he would explain this to her. As soon as it left her mouth though she knew it had been the wrong thing to say. His expression turned dark and with a careless motion of his hand, he sent her flying into the wall behind her with dizzying force.

"Who do you think you are _mortal_ to address the King's only son so terribly informally?"

His voice was filled with the same disdain as it had held during her Run. He was clearly expecting her to cower in fear of him, but unfortunately for him she'd seen **him** _much_ scarier then this. And her answering growl in seemed to throw him as she dragged her now sore body to stand, leaning against the wall.

"**I** _think_ I'm your equal and _not_ someone to be taken lightly. I also think I'm a guest here that _you_ must have summoned and you should learn to be more polite!"

He just watched her for a moment before opening his mouth; however he was cut off by the sound of clattering feet in the hall and tossing a quick glance behind him, moved to stand between her and the door. A fact she was very glad for a second later soldiers poured in through it to stand on either side of the room, forming a hall of bodies.

"Introducing His Royal Majesty King Atros." The soldier nearest the doorway announced before dropping into a bow. She would have followed suit but the tug of a smaller hand on hers stopped her.

"Do not bother." He told her clearly and calmly. "We will not be staying here long enough for your manners to matter."

"I shall take that to mean you are refusing my more then _generous_ offer?"

The deep bass of the man's voice rumbled into the room before the man himself and Sarah found her self staring transfixed at the door, hoping for a glimpse of the man that could still command Jareth. He was large was her first thought, as tall as a basketball player but with all the bulk of a football linebacker. He must have been living death on a battlefield. He had olive coloured skin and solid black hair that framed the blue of his eyes. His magic poured in the room with him and the sheer weight of it pulled a gasp from her throat and prevented her from breathing.

"I am." The slight built, fair-haired boy in front of her said, warmth flowing into her from their joined hands and letting her breath again.

"And you've pack _all_ that is yours?"

"I have."

"Then I will have to inquire as to what you think you are doing stealing one of my servants?"

Before he could answer for her Sarah felt her temper take over her mouth.

"You cannot steal people and truth be told I would much rather go with Prince Jareth then stay in a place as stuffy as this. Secondly your _Kingliness_ I am **not** a servant, your or otherwise."

She told him, head raised to look up her nose at him. She felt more then saw Jareth's amusement and saw the shock plastered on the soldier's faces, but all of their reactions were secondary to the Fae monarch currently trying to see through her.

"Is that so? If you are not a servant then you are trespassing on Fae lands. _My_ lands. Guards, if you would please escort our guest downstairs."

"She's my escort." Jareth shot out before the guards could move to do their Kings bidding. It drew a derisive snort from the King.

"You expect me to believe that something as old and powerful as the Labyrinth sent a _mortal girl_ to act as escort to its new King?"

She let her own snort fill the room and took a pose she hand used before. Gwen called it the Champion's pose. She let all the confidence and knowledge the Labyrinth had given her fill her up and she used the confidence in it to pull her hand out of the boy's and stand on her own beside him.

"I'm his escort only as far as the Sinner's Gate, after that he will have to navigate the Maze on his own, as every runner before him has and every Runner after him will."

She tossed the words at the man trying for calm and beyond grateful that she had remembered the name of the gate near Hoggle's house. The Kings eyes narrowed at her irreverent tone, obviously used to being deferred to. Then his eyes filled with anger and pain as his gaze swung to his son, his magic swelling to painful proportions as he did so and some of the guards were sent to their knees. Jareth's hand yet again found hers and he pulled her closer to his side.

"There are times when I dearly wish it had been your dead body decorating my study rather then your brother's."

The Kings face gave away nothing, only his eyes gave anything away but the words caused two things to happen at the same time. That smaller hand tightened nearly painfully on hers and his other hand flew to his eye, now stained a warm brown colour, but he managed to stay standing and level a glare at the other ruler.

"At least this way you will be unable to remake me in his image."

The teen tossed the words back at him as he lowered his free hand from his face and the sight of those duel coloured eyes caused a stir of fear in the soldiers.

"Get out of my palace and be on your way toward the border by twilight."

"As his Majesty wishes."

Still holding on to her hand he tugged her through the maze of halls out into the quaint little town.

XOXOXOXOXOX

They had been to four different stores for supplies and clothes for the two of them and every shop keeper had refused to take his coins. All of them had claimed that it was the very least that they owed him. He didn't say too much Sarah had realized, but then maybe he had always known the power of words.

"Prince Jareth? Why do they owe you?"

She asked the question softly as they began their trek out of the city, supplies divided between them. Sarah was sporting a new pair of boots and a leather belt holding a small knife, a dagger, and a small pouch that contained spell stones. Like the white one which he had told her would turn into a camp fire for the times when they could not build one.

"If I give you the answer to your question will you answer one of mine?"

"ARG! I'm getting sick of this even NOW must it always be deals and trades with you? Why can you not just answer my dammed question?"

"Because that is what I am, Lady, what all Fae are. Creatures of balance. I could no more stop doing it then I could pull the sun from the heavens. If I answer I want to know your _name_."

She couldn't possibly imagine having to be that way. Even with his family? It seemed a terribly lonely way to have to live life. He caught he face and spoke the next words softly

"It is not so bad, Lady. Someday my other half will find me and I will be able to act freely with that person."

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_Fear me, Love me, Do as I say and I will be your slave!_

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His offer echoed in her thoughts and before he could ask about her tear filled eyes, she nodded her acceptance.

"Fine then, why do they owe you?"

"I knowingly gave two squadrons of soldiers the wrong orders."

"Why did you give them the wrong orders? And that counts as part of my first question since I still don't know _why _they owe you." she added the last quickly before he could think of something else to ask her.

He sighed and tossed her a long suffering glance for her use of the loophole, a familiar expression on the older versions face and seeing it there caused her to smile back at him.

"You have a surprisingly nice smile, Lady." He told her in all seriousness, which caused her mind to stumble a bit as her cheeks warmed under her blush and a ghost of a familiar smirk slipped onto his face. "My father wanted to sacrifice the lives of those young men to weaken the enemy's defences before he sent in his experienced warriors. I went in place of them and unleashed all the magic at my disposal, wiping out most of the resistance."

The words were very carefully blank and Sarah found herself struck by the fact that a boy this young not only _had_ to kill but had the sheer power to just _wipe_ and enemy out.

"Your turn now Lady."

"It's Sarah. Sarah Williams."

"A lovely name, but tell me, Lady Sarah, how do you know me?"

A sigh as she debated how much she _could_ tell him without messing something up in her own time, before shrugging her shoulders. She trusted that the Labyrinth knew what it was doing.

"I don't, or at least I don't as of yet. Hell I'm willing to bet you I won't be born for thousands and thousands of years yet. I will though, and I will in my ignorance be the cause of your pain."

A small smile tossed in his direction before she speed them up a little.

"But you forgive me the folly of youth and come back to me. We're friends." a sigh. "I just wish- . . . For nothing. Though I do wonder how I got here."

His kept pace with her easily eyes glued to her form as the walked.

"You do not wish?"

"No. I learned to be careful what I wish for."

He only nodded at the seriousness in her voice before swinging his head forward and continuing to walk following her lead.

"It is a good lesson to learn, Lady Sarah."

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

They had walked for many hours after that till the light had vanished and made it to dangerous to keep travelling. He had volunteered to take first watch, which the strange girl had been thankful for. Falling on to the sleeping palate they had picked up for her and falling asleep almost as soon as she had finished complaining about her body hurting. He did feel a bit sorry for that. He thought back to when he had seen her standing in what had been his room. When he had foolishly voiced the wish to have someone travel with him that cared about him more then any other, he had thought maybe Bethany or Celes would have to walk with him. Instead he had found himself staring at the mortal girl almost before the words had left his mouth. Waves a straight long brown hair and eyes a bright green. He had taken a minute just to study her as she had studied her new surroundings. He had found her moods to be fickle things during their trek, but she had a vivid imagination and a surprisingly quick wit. She was more sarcastic and did not grovel as most women he was used to did. Simply put she was the most unique woman he had ever met and she was all his for the next fortnight.

"Copper marl for your thoughts?"

The deep gravely voice from across the fire jerked his eyes up to his father's. All his court masks shrugged off the other Fae simply seemed tired and old.

"She is _not_ and at the same time _is_ supposed to be here." The teen told him carefully, more then use to his father's mercurial moods.

"So she is not your escort?"

A bored question that put the teen on edge and had him inching closer to the girl sleeping by the fire.

"I believe she is. Who else could she possibly be?" The Teen hedged, grateful when his father only nodded.

"Who indeed and how else could she have gotten in to my castle with out the Maze's help?"

The question was the last thing the boy heard; the sleep spell hit him unawares with the full force of his father's will behind it.

XOXOXOXOX

He caught the tiny body as it fell backward and just held it for a moment, knowing that it would likely be the last time he would ever be able to do so. Gently brushing strands of wild blonde hair out of that too young face he let his finger trace under the now brown eye. The curse he had unintentionally flung in his anger would be useful to his heir, but would not undo the pain his words had caused.

"My son."

A hope and a prayer whispered out into the night, before he felt someone's eyes on him and he turned his head to face the girl, who must have been woken up by his spell.

"Why?" She asked him simply, nodding at the body cradled in his arms. "Why curse him? Why hurt him?"

"If I answer your question will you answer one of mine?" At her small nod he drew in a deep breath, before letting his eyes drop back down to his son. "The curse will help him, as that eye will always be able to see through to the truth. As for the banishment . . . I had to punish him. It is considered treason to ignore the will of the King and I can not just change the laws of the land to suit my own needs, it is not that simple. Being my son however gave me an option the beheading and so I chose banishment because I had already lost one son. I could not bear to lose another."

He watched as she paused to take her own breath and collect her thoughts before giving her own answer.

"I _am_ the Champion of the Labyrinth. . . _HIS_ Labyrinth. Years and years from now when the loneliness has chased almost all of this boy out of him. I would like to think that the Labyrinth would have to power to pull me through to _when_ ever here is. So, I supposed I must _be_ his escort." She paused the stare at the older male practically folded over that much smaller body. "How long is he banished for?"

"Until the Council of Elders finds that it wants something from him or he agrees to my terms. How old are you in mortal years?"

"Only 17 I'm afraid and still annoying your son. I seem the have a knack for annoying Fae males." she told him with a cheeky smile.

"I had noticed. Tell me lady, which way is the Labyrinth from here?"

She pointed southward behind her back almost as soon as he had finished speaking.

"Since I beat it, it tugs at me, though more then the direction I cannot tell you, Jareth says only those who are meant to find it can do so." she pouted a little at that part and he found himself wanting to ruffle her hair. "Then he had the nerve to push me into Gwen's pool . . . The jerk."

"Then it seems he also has a knack for tormenting you."

"He's just arrogant and smarmy!" She retorted green eyes flashing in the fire light.

"Smarmy?"

"Dead sexy and he knows it!"

"He's king." He told her simply.

"Oh my god not another one! Having a title _does not_ mean you have free rein to treat people cruelly, or at the very least it should not. It means that you have a responsibility to protect the people and lands under your rule." She raised her hand to stall whatever he would have said. "And don't you dare laugh at me, Jareth made that mistake and I punched him for it, I'll do it again."

"You _love_ him." It was not a question. He could see it in her eyes when she talked about the man, that the boy he held so carefully in his arms, became.

The statement received an immediate reaction as her cheeks flushed scarlet and for the first time since he had seen her standing besides Jareth, she began to stammer.

"I . . . well . . . That is . . . Maybe?" she told him suddenly interested in her feet.

"You do not know?"

"I . . . hurt him once, well maybe it's more truthful to say we hurt each other and we're still getting use to each other. I also have a lot of growing up to do and I don't want to get his hopes up until I'm sure."

He smiled softly at the blushing girl know standing before him and pacing before standing up and laying the smaller male on his own sleeping palate. When he stepped back to try and talk to her she darted past him and pulled the boy's palate closer to the fire, grabbing the coverlet from off hers to place over him. As she stood again he leaned forward to drop a kiss to her forehead.

"I would strongly suggest telling him your choice soon Lady, before you reach your adulthood, this is not a land that belongs to adults."

He warning delivered he vanished in a puff a white smoke.

XOXOXOX

YAY. I got two pieces posted in in less then 24 hours for this set GO ME!


	7. More Important Pieces

Collecting the Important Pieces **Pt.2**

Ja ne

Kat

OMG. I started this as a test run for my other piece and I've found that I kind of fell in love with it and want to finish this one. Ahhh poor me. Okay so here we go!

For those who want to know WHY those particular materials here we go . . . I did get this confirmed on at least 4 sites. Please let me know if there is a mistake though, but this is what I meant it to mean.

Pyrite- **Shields from negative energy, good stone of protection. Enhances intellect and memory. Symbol of the sun.**

Silver- **Mirror to the soul. Eloquence. Connects physical and astral bodies.** **Lunar energy. Cleansing, balancing. Also used to fight undead and demons.**

Iron- **Is for fighting against Fae and other magical beings.**

Lapis Lazuli- **Knowledge, wisdom, perfection, protection, creative expression.**

I thought both the top and bottom ones fit Jareth well.

XOXOXOX

He jerked awake the next morning, his now duel coloured eyes darting around the campsite. To his dismay and growing worry he saw no green-eyed mortal.

"Lady Sarah?" He called out, not wanting to disturb her if she was doing something private in the bushes nearby. No answer met his call. "LADY SARAH!" He resorted to shouting. Had is father stolen his guide? Did the man truly loathe him that much?

"Coming!" He almost missed her answering call as it was some distance off, back in the direction of the stream that they had passed yesterday. He settled in to wait, if she was taking a bath to get cleaned up his older sisters had taught him that it could take awhile.

Some ten minutes later, she and . . . He rubbed the now cursed eye to try and clear the double image it was seeing. To his normal eye, the girl, who was dry he noticed, seemed to be followed by a small kobold, with russet coloured fur. His cursed eye saw only flashes of something bigger and man-shaped in that space. Since the eye should have seen him exactly as he was, the spell that was placed on him must have been placed there by something powerful or at least something equally as powerful as his father.

A worrying fact as they wondered into camp with both their capes full of supplies. Sarah's containing berries and fruit, the kobold's smaller cape filled with fish. The mortal was nodding along with something he was saying.

"I agree sir. It is entirely unjust of them to decline your help based on your appearance." She turned to him with a smile at that point. "Good morning Jareth. We collected breakfast so that our supplies won't be used up so fast."

It was a well thought out plan. The path the mortal seemed to be on lead toward the dwarf mountains and if they had to go through it would be better the have the supplies from home rather then any picked up there. The dwarves were known to make it so no one could pass their tunnels.

"An excellent idea Lady, my thanks. Your companion, lady, is?"

"Jareth, High Prince of the Fae, I'm please to introduce you to, Sir Didymus."

The little knight seemed shocked that the girl knew his name.

"How did you keen?" He breathed out in awe.

A strange look of sympathy mixed with sadness passed over her face at this point and Jareth found himself wondering what had placed it there.

"You are seeking the Labyrinth, are you not, sir knight? You cannot fool its guide."

The small kobold instantly dropped to one knee.

"I am honoured to be accepted for citizenship."

Sarah shook her head as she knelt down and started to get their meal divided on three flat rocks that she must have washed in the stream.

"You will have to run the maze to be granted anything, same as anyone else. Now if you would find some durable branches, we can impale these fish on them and eat."

"As the Lady commands." He dropped into a perfect court bow as he said it, before turning and scampering off to do as the girl had bid. As soon as Jareth's own acute ears could no longer pick up his footfalls he turned to the girl.

"A kobold? Lady I must protest this, their kind is well know to be knaves and scoundrels."

She just blinked at him for a moment.

"Is _that_ what he is? I've always wondered. I thought they were supposed to be taller though. Hmmm."

"Lady, you seem to have wondered off topic."

"He's supposed to be there. I can't tell you more then that."

"Lady, again I must protest-"

"Do you know what those lands have _always_ been home to, _Prince Jareth?_" the question came out cold and hard as she remembered a shadow globe held carefully on long slim fingers before a face full of fierce pride in his people, his lands and what they stood for.

"Magic's Heart." He told her instantly and without hesitation. This caused her to scoff at his answer.

"Are you so sure? Did anyone _ever_ **find **it?" She paused and watched as the idea that it had never been there passed over his face. "What those lands **have** always been home to _Prince, _are the unwanted, misplaced and misunderstood. Before even the _Maze_ was there . . . According to you. One place in the whole universe for those that need one to be able to earn a fresh start. Now what happened to the last Goblin King?"

It seemed to be his turn to stare at her blankly for a few seconds before giving her the information she wanted. In a blank and empty voice that had her raising her eyebrows at the changed in tone and bracing for the bad news she was sure to receive.

"No one is quite sure. One day, one person in each of the other twelve kingdoms awoke with the Labyrinth's seal of office burned into their bodies somewhere. A summons from the great Maze to compete to rule the kingdom of the goblins and the land they both sit upon. In our kingdom it marked my older brother first, but the mark was in the middle of his back and so he hid it from our father. Refusing the Maze's command has its own cost however and when he failed to arrive in time for the competition the magic in the seal _tore him apart_."

He had to pause in his telling, forcing his voice back under control, as his mind flashed back to the "lesson" he had been in and his brother had been forced to watch for disobeying his father's orders. It was then that the screaming had started. It had gone on and on, seemingly for hours, till nothing was left of his brother save for a terrible silence that seemed to hold sway over even his own screams which he could feel stuck inside and a coating of blood that had covered everything in the study.

"The competitors that survived their run but failed to reach the end were returned to their homes and so my brother's mark landed on me just as my father needed an excuse not to _have_ to kill me."

He slid the gloves he always wore off his hands so that Sarah could see the mark. It was divided into two halves, one half on the back of each of his small hands. It was mostly done in a blue that seemed to pulse in time with the boy's heartbeat. Save for the tops of each curved horn; which had started to blacken to look like a burn.

"I have until the whole mark turns black to reach the Maze. Otherwise I'll meet the same fate as my brother."

His eyes were haunted as he explained this to her and for the first time she realized he was afraid. Though she wasn't sure if he was afraid to die, or to reach the maze. He slid the gloves back on and anything else she might have asked him was halted as the knight came bursting back into the camp. So, she ruffled his hair as if he was Toby and got down to the business of making breakfast, after which they broke camp and got their expedition underway again, heading ever southward toward the Dwarf lands.

OXOXOXOXOXO

It was well after mid-day repast when a roar echoed out of the forest Sarah said they had to go through and her two companions had been trying to find their way around.

Jareth and Didymus had similar reactions, as both instantly dropped into defensive stances, conjuring their weapons of choice to their hands. Didymus pulling out on elegant spear that Jareth thought was to long for the body he currently occupied to use properly, and on the other form would have been only a half spear. The hilt and shaft of the spear was made of pure bright silver and it carried right up in to one half of the blade. The other half of the wickedly curved blade was made of cold iron and the double sided design told Jareth which kingdom it had been made in. The Fae himself had conjured a pair of twin hooks made of enchanted Pyrite, the bladed spikes at the end of either hilt made of magically re-enforced and re-enforcing lapis lazuli. A small pulse of his magic had the metal on both weapons each alight with a different element, one crackled with lightening and the other wrapped in a sheaf of ice.

Sarah however smiled at the sound and with hand motions told them to stay back about ten feet from her, before she took off into the forest.

XOXOXOX

The ground she was running on was black and mushy with a red tint over it. The surrounding trees were only in shades of black and grey as if the forest swallowed up all of the colour it should have. She slowly made her way through the trees, carefully trying to avoid touching any of the spider silk threads that seemed to cover everything and following the roars that echoed out every so often. She could feel the other two following along behind at the distance she's set, spread out about ten feet from each other to avoid detection.

"I'm coming. Please just hold on." She whispered under her breath as the roars became louder, higher and more pain filled.

Peaking into a clearing in the trees gave her the first splash of colour she had seen since entering the forest. Tied upside down and held immobile, much the same as when she first met him, Ludo was bleeding badly from the bites marks of the three large, cat-sized spiders that were chewing on him. Several feel in front of him was a woman, holding the leads for the spider silk Ludo was wrapped in.

Though the term woman was being used rather loosely in this case. She had four arms and two legs, covered half-way up with fine black fur. A thorax where her behind should have been, also covered in fur, which could easily be seen through the spider silk skirt she wore. Gold trinkets were trapped in the top of it to make a crude belt. the fur continued up her torso and acted as her shirt. Her face was pale and beautifully cruel, with wine-coloured eyes that were narrowed in perverse glee at her pray. A pink tongue that darted out to moisten ruby red lips, and blue black hair done in curls held up by a crown of wiggling snakes.

"I am enjoying your death immensely, last of the forest protectors. For too long I have been forced to hunt you and now . . . Well now you will be a wonderfully nutritious meal for my babies."

An evil giggle as she formed a sphere of power between her bottom two hands. The bright red crimson of it had Sarah moving before she could think better of it, placing her own body in between her friends and the on-coming spell. She was only vaguely aware of Jareth cursing at her under his breath as he darted around to her and Ludo's side of the clearing, as the little knight slowly crept into position behind the other female.

Sarah simply spread her arms and awaited whatever pain and injury the spell and been intended to inflict. When nothing happened, slowly opening her eyes showed the spell halted by a slight form that had inserted itself in between herself and the spider woman.

"Jareth . . ." She breathed out watching him fight to deflect the spell to the side of them. The woman in front of them growled in anger and Sarah watched in horror as the orb grew in response and the youth got pushed back toward her several inches.

"Hurry and do what you were attempting to do, Lady." He managed to grit out at her, those familiar duel coloured eyes never leaving his opponents. A nod as she spun around and dashed toward Ludo, drawing the dagger he'd giving her as she did so. She edged around to the back trying to ignore the spider as they shifted and hissed at her and in a fast move she cut the binding from Ludo's hands. She was knocked back away from him, landing on the ground as his large hands instantly moved to rip the spiders from off of him, tossing them into the trees with enough force that they splattered, before he reached up to claw through the spider silk that held him upside down. As the last thread came undone he hit the ground with an earthshaking crash and lay still.

"How dare you!" This close her voice was smooth and low filled with an undercurrent of ice that made it painful to hear. "Do you know whose will you seek to defy? I am Arachnae, now Queen of the forest that separates the Fae and dwarf lands, Pandora's Garden!"

A flash of red as Jareth finally managed to deflect the spell and one of the trees in the clearing burst into flame on impact. An impatient movement of the Queen's hands had the spider silk moving to smother the flames.

"Who dares to attempt to steal my victory from me?!"

The silver edge of the spear was suddenly placed against her neck from behind.

"I am the free knight Didymus, currently seeker of the Labyrinth."

Again he spoke the words in that deep and oddly accented voice and her eyes sought out the flash of _whatever_ she had seen before, but all that she managed to catch this time was a flash of red-gold before Jareth spoke.

"I am Jaretha'len de Oberon, son of King Atros of the lands of Fae. Currently King candidate for the Goblin lands."

Her every narrowed in anger and hate at the teen standing defiantly in front of her, before scoffing in disbelief.

"Of course you are. All prince's travel with _things_ like the one cowering behind you."

Before Sarah could protest the tone, the knight increased the pressure the blade had against her neck just the slightest bit, so that small drops of blood, yellow in colour, began to trickle down her thin neck.

"I am quite sure you have better manners for guests then that." The odd voice growled out again.

"The young mortals name?"

She sought one out quickly, not wanting to turn her own name over to the evil standing in front of her. Jareth had warned her _several_ times since her Run about the dangers of blindly giving her name out.

"Labyrinthia. Champion and Guide of the Labyrinth."

Anything else that may have been said was cut off by a long low growl that caused the Spider to laugh gleefully.

"Since you wanted _that_ free so very badly, I shall leave your demise in the hands of the _animal_ you have unleashed. Please consider it a gift from me as I took perverse pleasure in breaking his sanity."

She then melted into a mound of small spiders that quickly scurried into the under bush.

"**Jareth?**" She whispered to the boy now standing beside her as she backed away from the raising mound of fur. "What _is_ he?"

The boy's eyes flickered to her's briefly as the knight scampered forward to stand on her other side.

"My father told me once that the Guardians of the Forest were Minotaur shamans that begged for refuge here when they were forced to escape the humans that had taken over the Isle of Crete to look for their treasures."

_Greek mythos_, her mind supplied as those normally warm brown eyes locked on her with nothing but pain and anger in them.

_It's Ludo_. She reminded herself sternly. Somewhere in all that pain, anger and fear was her friend and dammit she was _not_ going to leave him here.

"Lady?" Two very different voices, but the same impatience contained in them. They were both waiting for her to slowly back away, which just wasn't going to happen. A deep breath before she took a half step forward and bent at the waist to be at eye level with his hunched form., ignoring the way his fur stood on end and the low growl of warning.

"If you sit down I'll wrap those injuries up for you." She worked on keeping her voice soft and even with her hands on her knees and a soft smile on her face. He stayed perfectly still for a few minutes just staring at her before slowly easing himself down on his rump, eyes a little clearer then before.

"No hurt?"

Her companions seemed taken aback by the words spoken in his deep voice. She sighed at the question.

"I will do my very best not to hurt you, but I want to clean and wrap those bites." She told him slowly and clearly, moving her hands slowly to mimic the words she used to help him understand.

"Clean? Heal?"

"Yes." she told him simply with a small nod.

"Heal hurts." He told her eyes on the ground.

"Some of it will I'm sure, but it will be better for you in the long run."

When he did nothing else but sit there and stare at them she took it as permission and lowered her pack slowly to the ground beside Jareth, pulling out her water canteen and roll of bandages. She heard Jareth sigh and felt him shift to watch the area around them as Didymus tensed up.

"Lady I must protest, this seems unwise."

A rather inelegant from Jareth as his eyes kept tracking the tree line for movement.

"Yes it is unwise. However is it as _unwise_ as willingly traveling with a kobold?"

The teens question seemed to halt any other protests that the little knight may have made as Sarah walk as normally as possible over to the injured . . . minotaur? He watched her with calm but wary brown eyes. She smiled as she got to him and knelt placing the water beside them and resting that hand against her chest.

"Sarah."

He mimicked the motion and told her what she already knew.

"Ludo."

A nod of acknowledgment as she reached out for the hand he'd placed on his chest, pulling it out straight so she could see the injury.

"I'm going to pour water over this to help wash out the spider's toxins, it may hurt a little."

He still just watched her saying nothing. The injury on this arm was the size of her whole hand and was ragged and shredded from the teeth marks. The toxin they had used had already turned a good portion of the flesh still exposed mushy. She uncapped the water and poured it over the wound. The effect was instantaneous as he tried to jerk his arm forward out of her grasp, but her hands tightened automatically so she was dragged along with the path of the arm till her thigh hit the side of a tree stump with enough force to bruise right to the bone and she was betting it would be a pretty colour tomorrow.

"Milady!" That would be Didymus.

"Sarah!" And that crisply accented voice could only belong to Jareth, but she'd never heard it sound like that before. Panic, fear and worry coloured it for the first time since she had met him. She took a deep breath and concentrated on ignoring the pain in her leg and two of the voices that meant the most to her. Kneeling down again and raising the canteen was met by another low growl and she raised her eyes to his in a glare that would have made _her_ Jareth proud, her voice low enough that she basically snarled the next words into his face.

"You _will_ sit and prove to me that you can behave if you want a chance to earn a new home, otherwise we will leave you here to take your chances with the spiders."

"Home?"

"Yes."

"Home safe?"

"Usually, though it does have its moments."

This time he offered his arm up to her and sat perfectly still for the 30 minutes it took her to be done and his wounds wrapped up and as clean as she could make them with what she had..

XOXOXOX

After watching to assure himself that the girl under his care would come to no more harm from the large beast he turned his attention to the smaller one helping him guard the clearing.

"Weapons like that are made only by the elves and used only by two sets of people. Their own border patrol units, and sold to the monsters to use to help control their own people. So which were you originally Knight, proud elf warrior or monster?"

The question caused that _something_ that over shadowed the small Kobold to come in more substantially, and for a second, just a flash; he found himself staring at a tall humanoid with a wealth of red-gold hair. More then that he couldn't see as the Kobold took a breath and turned a growl at him, and the flash was not enough to identify him as either or.

"You are not yet King, so you will have to forgive me if I choose to keep my past to myself. I want only to start fresh and mean no harm to you or the young lady. In fact as she has agreed to take both of us to the Maze it is also in my best interest to assist you in keeping her safe."

"Your word on that?"

Giving promises to the Fae was a risky thing and whatever the kobold had been he was sure to have know that but for a second he just stared at the prince before nodding.

"On my very hard earned honour, I mean no harm to you or the girl-child."

The ground shaking slightly turned them both to stare at the other pair as Sarah assisted that much larger body back onto his feet.

"Okay boys I'm all done over here. Ludo? Do you know a safe route through this forest toward the mountains?"

A few seconds before he nodded and the, now doubled party, resumed the trek ever southward.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Arachnae- Is a name a stole from Soul Eater and it sooo fits.

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Twin Hooks- are a Traditional Shoalin monk weapon. And do actually hook together to increase the reach. Feel free to look them up they are kick ass looking and I can completely see Jareth using them. A weapon that can defend and attack well all in one simple design with a range option.

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WOW. Okay this is the longest section of snippets so far ten pages typed. I really couldn't think of a point to cut it in half so you get it in one big pile of words =}.

AHHHH THANK YOU HACHI! I have a great idea for the prom thing and it's all _entirely_ **your **fault. You mentioned flashes and the idea beat me over the head, though I don't think it's quite the way you were hoping it would go. . . Oh well I tried. It is the next part so you WILL have to wait awhile for that, and it explains why she's all the way back when. So it's NOT out of order yet. Go me. Anyone else notice we're collecting them backwards?

OH MY GOD! I have so many reviews for this story, I'm so happy!

Other mentions!

Kaytori- There you got at least one of your questions answered, you know what happened to his brother and got a few more hints for sir D's past.

**_Elf or monster?_** Which do you guys think?

Taria robotnik- I'm glad that you enjoy my version of Sarah. I think her Run would have made her more sure of her self and things like that.

HachimansKitsune- your evilness has already been noted above, though I do hope you like having more sir D hints. (kidding about the evil, though the idea really wouldn't leave me alone.)

And LaurenvBelladonna I MISS YOU . . . Please let me know what ya though of the last two chapters when you get time k? BYES!

Love YA's!

Ja ne

Kat


	8. The Price of Bravery

The Price of Bravery.

By/Par: Ja ne Kat

OMG please forgive me. I can't tell you what happened. Sometimes I just go missing. I offer this up to anyone who still has this on there alert list. Thank you so horribly much for waiting.

I admit to lying. Last time I told you it would be the prom . . . It's not. And you still don't know why or how she got way back when. I am so sorry. But I had to get this part in here so that I still wasn't out of order.

As always please forgive any minor mistakes.

And please enjoy.

Lol and I have to tell you I honestly knew all the words to this play by the time I was six and Labyrinth is my favourite movie because they remind me of each other.

XOXOXOXOX

The Price of Bravery.

She had been putting off thinking about it as Ludo escorted them through the forest, cutting down their travel time to only a day and a half. Now, however she was standing in front of the dark tunnel and she was forced to let the knowledge sink in that they would have to go _through_ the mountain to have any chance of making the Labyrinth in time to do Jareth any good. The mark was now a quarter of the way down his hands and she had no clue how far they would still have to go once they reached the other side, or even how long it would take for them to get through the mountain.

"Lady?"

The voice snapped her out of her thoughts and brought her attention down to Didymus.

"Um. . . Yes?"

"Is there something remiss?"

"No, not yet. Did you find any apples or berries? Jareth seems really serious about not getting any provisions they sell there."

"I filled you holding stone with as many edible things as I could find. It now includes apples, several different berries, some pears and a couple of plums that were not overly ripe, a couple of tomatoes, potatoes and some cherries. Ludo should be back soon with fish to fill the rest. Do you have any idea what Sir Jareth is putting in his?"

"Water. He is also filling up both of our canteens as well as yours I believe."

"So he really, truly means for us to buy _nothing _from there?"

"It will be safer for us to go in with as much of our own supplies as is possible. The dwarves have a distinct dislike of people seeing the riches in the depths of their realm and leaving to tell about it." Jareth informed them briskly as he rejoined them, pocketing the disturbingly black stone, which he had explained, held everything in a time lock so that nothing would go bad.

"Jareth, welcome back. Now all we need is Ludo and we can get this whole thing **over** with." Any other time she would have wondered why her words caused the teen to pale or why the little knight's eyes narrowed on her in a glare. But right then Ludo came lumbering up with his own woven basket full of fish and it was time for them to brave the small, dark and _probably_ trap filled caves.

Scared? Who her?

_OH yea._

OXOXOXOXOXOXO

Didymus and Jareth wasted no time striding briskly and confidently forward without so much as a backward glance to make sure she and Ludo could keep up. The furry mountain had stopped just behind her, both of them still outside the entrance.

"Scared. Dark."

She only nodded in complete agreement with him. She was already fighting to keep her breathing normal and she wasn't even in inside yet.

"Me too. Would it be okay with you if we walk together? Maybe it won't be quite so scary then." a soft whisper as Jareth and the light he held kept getting smaller.

"Together?"

"Yes, please." She held her hand out to him and he very carefully encased it inside his own. He offered her a smile before they took that first step together into the deep dark tunnels.

XOXOXOXOXOX

They had been walking for awhile and even though Jareth was only a few feet ahead now with his light spell; she was slowly but surely losing the battle against hyperventilating. Ludo's warmth around her hand and huge presence at her side _was_ helping but every single second that she spent walking away from the only known exit felt like the rocks themselves were closing in on her lungs.

'_It's to save Jareth. To make sure he has enough time to make it.'_

She kept repeating the words like a mantra but it wasn't helping the part of her that screamed that she was being buried alive or flinched each and every time her daggers flashed up at her, illuminated by that single point of light. A tug on her hand spun her to face Ludo.

"Sawah?"

"…" She tried to answer him but no sound managed to make it past the quick, shallow breaths she was taking.

"Sawah!" Louder now and accompanied with, what to him probably seemed like a small shake. Still all she could do was shake her head at him as the other two finally turned to take notice of the two behind them.

"Lady Sarah?"

"Sarah?!"

She forced herself to focus on that very different and yet achingly familiar face.

"so . . . sorry."

That was all that she managed to tell him before she passed out.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

He watched as Ludo caught his charge as she slumped toward the ground.

"Sarah!" He yelled as Ludo lowered her slowly down. Jareth took her from him, eyes darting over her to make sure she was still uninjured. Nothing he could see would explain her sudden collapse, so he raised his eyes to the Minotaur's.

"What happened?"

"Sawah scared."

He felt his mouth drop open in shock. All this because she was _AFRAID_? She hadn't flinched in the face of his father's anger. She hadn't thought twice about putting her life on the line to protect Ludo from the spider. She had barely even blinked at having been so hugely displaced from her own place and time, but being _here_ scared her?

He wanted to laugh at the very idea of it, but one look at her showed him the signs he had failed to notice earlier because of his hurt feelings, thinking that she wanted the whole thing to be over with and not simply this part. All the colour had drained out of all her skin for as much as he could see and, as her body slowly unclenched he could see bloody crescent shaped holes in her palms from where she had clenched her hands too tightly.

"Carwy Sawah?" Ludo asked holding his arms out again. Jareth nodded before reluctantly and carefully transferring the slight girl to his arms.

"Good idea. If I have to fight it will be easier for me to do so if I do not have to put her down first."

He turned to find the last member of their little group, whose eyes held the same worry and guilt he was sure was reflected in his own.

"Forward or rear guard?"

"Rear. I have no light spell to guide us. Who knows? Mayhap if we are very lucky we can get through the mountain afore the Lady awakens."

"A lovely idea but I would not bet upon it." Jareth told him solemnly before heading off down the path again. Either way they still had to find a path through.

XOXOXOXOXOX

As she dreamed she heard his last offer again as she so often did when she was asleep. The plea to go with his too tempting offer plain on his face, filling his eyes and straining his voice as he held the crystal before her.

"_Fear me. Love me. Do as I say and I . . . will be your slave."_

And as always it triggered a much loved piece of music to float across her mind.

_**.**_

_**For either way you choose,**_

_**You cannot win!**_

.

It was from her favourite musical. The final act in Phantom of the Opera where Christine is forced to choose between her freedom and her fiancée's life. It was truly fitting because even before she had met him, Jareth had always reminded her a little of the Phantom. Both men were compelling and tragic figures tormented by the sheer weight of their loneliness. The Phantom had chosen his however, while Jareth had not. The Goblin King was all alone even when surrounded by hundreds of his own citizens. Both had also been granted a small taste of paradise by finding the women that could end their suffering, only to have them slip through their fingers.

Sarah sometimes found herself thinking that it was horribly unfair, because when all was said and done, Jareth _had_ been right all along. Words did have power, and once said could not be unsaid. In the play the Phantom had taken pity on the woman he loved before she had been made to say her choice.

Sarah had not been so lucky. She truly _did_ **have** to choose and Jareth could not take pity on her even if he wanted to. So she had been forced to turn her back on the only place she had ever felt alive and like she truly belonged. She had been forced to turn away from the only man to make her heart race and butterflies to dance in her stomach. It had broken something so deep inside her that sometimes, before he had come back, she had been afraid it could never, would never be fixed.

However, that was not the _most_ painful part of having been made to say those words. The most painful and haunting part had been the flash of immeasurable grief and anguish on Jareth's face as the world crumbled to dust and ruin around them.

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"_**Yet in his eyes,**_

_**All the sadness of the world.**_

_**.**_

_**Those pain-filled eyes,**_

_**That both threaten and adore."**_

.

She came awake singing those words and found herself looking into those same mismatched eyes, only this time filled with worry and guilt.

"Lady Sarah?"

She focused on only his face, not wanting to remember where they were just yet.

"Jareth. I'm sorry have I slowed us down badly?"

He shook his head in relief before answering her.

"No Lady. Ludo was kind enough to carry you. We are a few passages away from the City of the Dwarves and we all thought you should be awake when we arrive."

Explanation given he began to move as if to leave, but Sarah shot her hand out to grab his wrist.

"Please stay. I don't want to think about where we are. Talk to me?"

He sat back down and simply looked at her, so Sarah asked her own question, remember the last time she had asked him to talk and he had not known what to say.

"What did you mother have to say about your banishment to the Goblin Lands?"

He shrugged his slim shoulders and dropped his eyes so that she could not see what was in them.

"In all likelihood Lady she doesn't know yet. I should have been with her but she has been having such problems with her current pregnancy that my father kept me for an extra year, since she is on bed rest. I hope though that she will be proud of my choice, and that she will not make herself sick with worry."

"I'm sure that she will be very proud. I have to tell you that I certainly am. Can I ask how many siblings you have?"

"Once the new one is born I will have four." That flash of grief again. "Three now. My oldest sibling was called Erik and he was from my father's first marriage."

Sarah nodded and reached out to squeeze his clenched hand.

"My oldest sister is called Bethany and her father was picked for my mother by her court, as only a full-blooded fairy can inherit her throne. My parent's first child together is my other sister Celes. She has only just come of age and has annoyed both of my parents by informing them that she has been accepted by the High King's court to be a spell weaver.

"How old is that and what is a spell weaver?"

"500 summers old, and a spell weaver does one of two things. Invents new spells or studies already existing spells and reworks them to make them easier to cast, longer lasting and stronger."

"How old _are_ you?"

A smile finally flashed across his face.

"Just under 400, roughly 15 or 16 summers above."

"What are you going to ask me in exchange for all of these answers?" she asked with a smile, not truly worried about what he would ask, but wanting to make him smile. To her dismay the guilt crept back into his eyes.

"You are already paying, Lady. You would not be here, afraid nearly to death, if you were not trying to find the fastest path to our destination. The price is really quite simple to figure out."

His piece said he leaned forward and briefly, chastely pressed his lips to hers.

"Sleep well Lady Sarah." He told her before waking Ludo and heading to his own sleep palate.

But she was not paying attention to those details. That simple and brief contact had given her a glimpse of the _man_ that she was desperately missing. His face was much thinner then the last time she had seen him, as though he had lost a lot of weight very suddenly, bags under his eyes and exhaustion etched in to the lines of his face. Those mismatched eyes _were_ open, but staring at nothing that she could see and horribly blank and empty.

The sight caused only one thought to go screaming across her brain.

_My god! How long have I been here_?

"_**Jareth…!"**_

XOXOXOXOXOX

I don't have the next part for this even thought up because it has gone way beyond what I had intended to write. Really everything starting at collecting the important pieces I wrote only because you guys liked this so much.

Either way here you go. This is going to have to do till I get the next part ironed out in my head and then down on paper. I hope you like it!

**Lolgirl**- Well… I will get to what Jareth wears to her prom. I HAVE that part written down and you will get it . . . At some point. Let me assure you that it walks a fine line between what he normally wears and what he can get away with. In fact the line is almost not there. I may have to fix that. God I hate clothes details.

**Serena24**- I probably said all this already but I'm really glad that you decided to read it, but I am not capable of writing drabbles. Believe me I have tried many times. It always ends up a thousand words or more. It made me so, so happy that you though they were excellent, and I always wondered where they all came from . . . I mean they are obviously _not_ goblins. More, thank you for being one of the few that offered an opinion on Sir D. Tell you a secret I already know how both versions go and the one that doesn't go here is going in my other lab fic. (Go me. Waste not want not.)

_**Kaytori**_- ! Darling this is so for you. Though I didn't get specific on Jareth's punishment because I do not want to bump the rating, I did explain why he did not go to his mother's and why she didn't declare war. Jareth doesn't want her to know. He's worried about her and the stress a war might do to her, and excited to be an older sibling for once. I know that you noticed that at this point in the time line he's the baby. Which I will get into more later! I'm still so glad you have questions, keeps me on my toes and makes me double check that I really do know the answer! Love ya let me know about this one, and so sorry about the wait. And Sir D. really is awesome either way . . . Just wait till you get that part. (I really do check your reviews before I start each chapter)

I will work on it honest, though when you will get more I don't know. I also have to update how do you keep the music playing? (Those poor people have been waiting forever!) And I need to add something to my DA2 story.

My plot fairy has also beaten me over the head with and Idea for Mass Effect, (Which, Even though I'm writing it out, I have avoided typing. Another go me.) And a second part to my Kaze no Stigma fic.

Thanks guys! I still exist. For those of you reading both stories I have hit an editorial block on Music, I'm working on getting past it I swear!

Ja ne,

Kat


	9. The Toll It Takes

The Toll it Takes, Bravery's Backlash.

By/Par: Ja ne Kat

SHHH, it's a secret that I updated this twice before I touched Music. Don't tell. OMG Thank you all for your reviews! WOW Snippets is still loved, I'm so glad.

_**Kaytori**_ was kind enough to both _**Beta**_ this chapter for me and _**write the disclaimer**_. Everyone tell her how awesome she is. Everything else is mine and please you will be warned twice, that this chapter contains some violence in it.

This is for Joesette who is completely awesome and read both this and Music all in one day and sent me Reviews for all of it. Here Ya go part of the reason that he's in a bad way.

And for Hachi (Finally) who wanted me to do a snippet of the Prom . . . I know that this is _not_ even close to what you suggested, but she had to get back there some how. Really I did a complete 180. It isn't even funny.

A/N- I suck at clothes, honest truly. I have my gay friend or my cousin help me get ready for anything big. I know, one of these days they are going to pull my girl card. So if you have a better idea for what they should wear please send it. I will give full credit. I DID look all this up so I know (if nothing else) that the terms are correct. And it took forever.

_**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE**_

_This chapter involves a school shooting I know it hasn't been very long since the last one, but in 2012 alone there were 9 school shootings the death toll is as you all know very large. I do not wish to offend and if any of my readers are personally touched by these events, I am so sorry. But these events happen so often it feels as if they've become part of life. Please don't be offended my purpose is to tell a story, not offend or make light of the tragic events that plague America or anywhere else that has such tragedies occurred._

_**IMPORTANT WARNING: **_

_**This chapter contains parts that might be disturbing for some Readers.**_

_**Reader discretion is advised.**_

XOXOXOXOXOX

He sat waiting by her unconscious form, as he had been for the last few days, knowing full well that it was in vain. He could not understand how a night that had started out so wonderfully had ended up going so horribly _wrong_.

xoxoxoxox

It had started well enough, but with a small drama all its own. His latest runner had been worked on by every available body so that boy had given up well before the 13 hour mark, leaving Jareth plenty of time to decided which of the modern tuxedo styles Gwen had brought for him to see, that he would use.

After _much_ debate he ended up conjuring a single-breasted suit jacket made of soft brushed flannel, dark red in colour. It had a shawl lapel and two flap pockets on either side with no buttons, save for one on each cuff, made of carved ivory to resemble the face of an owl. The waistcoat was black and made of butter soft leather with two rows of simple black buttons both of which he had done up. The dress shirt underneath was the same linen one he often wore around the castle. Worn both for it's familiarity to him while in the strange suit and because, while he had to conform to current norms he wasn't going to toss his own style completely. The pants were normally supposed to match the jacket, but in this case they were the same leather and colour as the waist coat and tight enough he would have to be totally in control all night. He wore his own black leather boots from the tunnels, buffed to a black gloss. He arranged his hair, to fall around his shoulders and frame his face, and as an after thought, remembered to set a glamour spell to make him seem 21 to any mortal, other then Sarah, that looked at him.

Pleased with the overall effect he teleported to Gwen's castle were he and her date had agreed to meet up. He had arrived roughly an hour early right outside of her open bedroom door and had been pulled inside almost before he had finished materializing.

"Finally! You're here! What are we going to do?!"

He'd blinked at her for a few minutes, trying to decide if he had teleported in on her dressing or if that scrap of clothing was all the she was going to be wearing.

The _dress_, a term he was using rather loosely since it was in two parts, was made of dark blue velvet that shifted colour with the light as she moved, making it look much like she was wearing rippling water.

The top seemed to be a half shirt, like an elaborate version of one of Sarah's work-out bras, and it ended a few inches under her chest and fit like a second skin. (And he had thought his _pants_ were form fitting?!) It also had long sleeves that ended right at her wrists and a scooped back. The skirt was the same colour and material but was simple and free flowing right down to her ankles; unfortunately it was slit up both sides right from the bottom to her mid thigh.

"Find a different dress?" He asked hopefully, praying it was what she was worrying about. "Otherwise your date and I are going to be fending off every single hormonal teenager in the building."

She shot his own outfit a withering glance over her shoulder before spinning around sharply in her pacing, flashing (Deliberately, he was willing to bet.) a glimpse of her long pale legs in the ridiculously high, equally red, stiletto's. He cursed loud and long in his head as she stalked toward him that he had not tried harder to talk her out of dress shopping Aboveground.

"You really were hoping it was _that_ easy?" she gave a rather inelegant snort as she shook her head. "No, my date has sent an apology, but due to a border skirmish, he has been detained and will be about an hour late."

He found himself just staring at her again. He had been ready to be told something truly awful, like Sarah had changed her mind, and this was _all_?

"Is that it? We will simply 'call' Sarah and tell her we are running behind."

His sister leaned forward and poked her finger into the middle of his chest as she spoke.

"_This_ is an _**important**_ night for young mortals and I **refuse** to let our chaotic lives ruin this for her."

He held his hands up in surrender. Though it did not happen often, once it did, smart men just rode out the sharper side of her temper.

"So your suggestion is . . .?" He knew she had one. The only question was weather he would agree with it or not.

"You will go on ahead and meet Sarah at her house at the time we agreed upon. My date and I can teleport to her school later."

"Gwen. . . Are you sure? I know that you have been excited about getting to ride in a limo. If I go ahead you will miss that."

A dimming in his little sister's fathomless eyes, even as she nodded and turned to resume her pacing.

"Yes, I'm sure. Unlike you, I've been to her school. The limo has already been paid for and it will pick you up at the house we own Above. It will pick you up there in about 30 minutes and take you to Sarah's, then to the school. _**Do not**_ forget a corsage for Sarah."

Her warnings given she spun to face him again, smile on her face.

"Good luck, big brother!"

He smiled back at her before vanishing to the house they owned Above.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

She was staring at the space her brother had been in when a voice came out of her suite's sitting room.

"That was a very kind thing you did for your brother, Lady."

She spun to face the previously closed door, fighting not to glare at the man, no the _dragon_ framed in it, for eavesdropping. A deep breath to get her Queen mask settled in place.

"Thank you for agreeing to play along." The carefully measured words were polite and blank, much the same as the look she held on her face. He shook his head a little sadly at her before easing in to the room toward her.

His hair was a thick blue-black that looked ever so soft, and framed the strong lines of his face in a clean cut style. His skin was the same light brown shade as coffee with just the right amount of cream in it. His eyes were the unnatural true blue of clear summer skies and seemed to darken and shift like the ocean with his moods. His was in a modern power suit in three parts. The Double-breasted jacket was an azure blue colour made of tweed with a herringbone weave. The waistcoat appeared to be comfortable black flannel, and the button down dress shirt was a shiny silk black. The buttons looked to be pearl with onyx dragons heads on top and the white silk tie he wore stood out in sharp contrast. The pants were a solid black, made of flannel, and ended at the black leather shoes he wore. A blue and black rose that shimmered strangely, was tucked into his jetted pocket.

"Mayhap we could start over?" He offered as he came to a halt in front of her.

"I beg your pardon?"

He paused and seemed to search for the words he wanted, hands tapping a beat only he could hear against his leg.

"You were relaxed, at ease and . . . And _alive_ when you were in here speaking to your brother. As soon as you heard my voice however that warmth evaporated to be replaced with the Ice Queen that I have heard about in all the Court rumours. So, perhaps a new start, because I would like, very much, to know the woman who is capable of such warmth, rather then both of us just desperately wanting our fathers off our backs?"

He took a deep breath and when he let it out, his posture went from court formal to relaxed and he rocked back slightly on his heels to offer her an unsure but still game smile.

"I am Levi, and with _your_ permission, I would like to be granted the honour of walking you to your friend's important ball, and escorting you once there. Are those terms agreeable to you?" He held his hand out to her with a bright white and pink stripped rose on a ribbon held loosely in his palm. She felt her lips curve into a smile almost against her will, before she offered him her wrist and let him secure the flower there. She simply stared at it for a minute before nodding.

"I'm Gwen and I know the _most_ amazing path to walk to get there, we could even stop and grab a coffee on our way, if you would like to try some."

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

He had enjoyed the pleasure she seemed to derive from shoving him all the gadgets in the limo, everything from the T.V. to the fridge. But everything she showed him was secondary to drinking in the sight of her.

Her dress was a black coloured silk sheath dress with a silver star burst design that seemed to cling to every curve she had, and seemed to be in constant danger of slipping off. The front dipped down into a dangerously low 'v' shape that ended in between her breasts, and came over her shoulders in two thin straps. There was _no back_ to the dress, and he had been searching for it. The skirt simply started a few inches above the swell of her shapely behind and all above that were seemingly miles of flawless, cream coloured skin. The skirt ended just above her knees and she had her own pair of glossy silver stilettos attached to her heels. At her neck she had an old Cameo attached to a black velvet ribbon and sapphire drops hung from her ears. Her step-mother had leant Sarah a simple gold Rolex, to wear on her wrist so she would have no excuse for being home late. Her long hair was done up into an elaborate crown on the top of her head, with a few ringlets allowed to rest against her shoulders.

He had stood stupefied in the doorway to her father's house when he had first caught sight of her. Toby, recently turned 4, had been telling his sister how "pwetty" he thought she was, as her father had glared bloody murder at him and her step-mother had tried, unsuccessfully to stifle her laughter at the whole picture they made behind her hand. He had moved with out thinking to stand before her, brushing one of the ringlets off her shoulder before bowing over one hand to lay a kiss there.

"Your beauty, as always, outshines even _my_ wildest dreams, Precious."

Before her family could comment he had risen quickly and tied the rose he had conjured for her around her wrist. It was a solid white rose save for the end of every petal which were light pink in colour.

"Shall we, Lady Sarah?"

She had offered him a dreamy smile before linking her arm with his and allowing him to escort her to the waiting limo.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Of the actually 'party' he remembered little. Most of the noise they played he would never be able to call music, but every once in a great while there would come a piece he deemed suitable enough to dance to. They danced well together, after the first dance where Sarah had been stiff and uncertain in his arms. Sarah had also introduced him her friend from grade school. A biology major, with a devil-may-care attitude that he found himself enjoying. Her name was Grace and she had the most beautiful dark skin that he had ever seen. The pale, lanky boy she dragged along behind her was actually her boyfriend Zachariah, Zac for short. It was actually the day of their second anniversary, Grace had told him proudly, after she had marched up to Sarah and demanded to know who, "the hottest man in the whole building was?!" An apologetic look tossed to the blushing boy behind her. Sarah had laughed at the look on his face before introducing him.

"You remember Gwen? This is her older brother, Jareth. I have actually been his pen pal for a few years now. You will not believe my shock when I learned that my English pen pal was my friend's brother."

"You're English?" Grace had asked narrowing her chocolate coloured eyes at him. "Say something!"

"I _beg_ your pardon?" He has asked without thinking, not use to being giving orders.

"OH. MY. GOD. Girlfriend, he just got 10 whole points hotter!"

Sarah had laughed at her friend, while Zac had reached out to mess with his girlfriend's curls, before offering to collect drinks for the group if Jareth would watch over his date while he was gone.

The three of them had chatted about their plans for after graduation and Jareth had been content to listen in and learn more about Sarah's hopes for the future then he had know before. She had been accepted to the school she wanted and hoped to be a writer of children's books some day, though she was also taking journalism at her father's insistence, so she could make money while she worked on getting published. Grace was going to study marine life, and the quiet spoken Zac had actually graduated a year ahead of the girls and was in school taking business so that he could take over running his fathers private aquarium, where he had met Grace.

An hour and thirty minutes later the group had grown when Gwen had sauntered threw the doors with her date, looking far more comfortable in his presence then Jareth had expected or was quite happy with.

"Lady Sarah." the dragon had greeted the girl with a bow as Sarah and Gwen had giving introductions. After that there was dinner and more dancing with Gwen and Jareth frantically trying to help the dragon blend in as he had not spent too much time Above before. A few hours later Sarah and Jareth had moved outside to await the rest of their party, which now included Grace and Zac, since Gwen had actually paid for the limo until two a.m. and their ride was having car trouble.

Jareth had headed for the small field beside the building almost as soon as the doors opened, taking deep breaths as he moved.

"Are you okay?" The soft voice came from beside him and he stopped to look at her.

"I will be. It is only that we have been in there for some time and, being Fae, Gwen and I do not handle iron so well. And steel is produced from carbonizing iron."

"So, it makes you sick?" She cocked her head to the side in puzzlement for a second as she mulled the information over. "Should I meet you guys at the park from now on then?"

He laughed a little and shook his head.

"No Precious, though I thank you for your concern. It would honestly take a few days for either of us to be weakened enough by the iron in steel to actually get sick. We would have to have directed contact with it for there to be an instantaneous effect. However, being encased in it on top of being surrounded by all those bodies is a . . . smothering feeling."

He was more then grateful when she did not ask any other questions and just wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you for coming with me Jareth. I had way more fun then I thought I would. Though I have to tell you, I kinda like Levi so far. Are you going to do the over protective brother thing and threaten to beat him up if he messes with her?"

He snorted and wrapped her up in his own arms, enjoying the simple contact with the young girl.

"Oh, of course. What kind of brother would I be if I did not? In fact had your brother been older I probably would not have made it out of your father's house, that easily, with out receiving my own speech."

She laughed a little at him going up on her tip toes to kiss his check.

"Come on. Let's go and collect the slow pokes, otherwise Levi may very well be distracted by the 'flashy' things all night."

They had only been looking for a few minutes when there had been a burst of loud sound that repeated rapidly. The only thing he could liken the sound to was lightening slamming in to the ground, as the room burst into screams and panicked rushing. She had wrapped her smaller hand around his and tugged him in to a stooped run along to rooms back wall, away from the flow of people and toward a small storage closest they had found earlier. She had opened the door, just shoving him inside when her body lurched forward suddenly and he moved quickly to catch her and slam the door at the same time. That done, he turned his full attention back to her and to his horror had found blood seeping into the front of her dress.

"Sarah?" Never before had his voice sounded so thin.

"Guns can shoot steel." She told him brokenly in warning before passing out in his arms. A gun . . . That was what the sound had been, the bullets breaking the sound barrier.

The realization of what that meant had his power slamming out of him with all the grace of a tornado, forcing time to halt where it was. He reached for more to rewind it and found the ability stopped by something that not only _bested_ his considerable power, but actually _**swallowed**_ it.

_**There are some moments that cannot be undone, Princeling.**_

He growled at the well known voice before shouting for the only other person within range, which could help him.

"Queen of the Nymphs, I command you into my presence!" His control over time slipped at the power he used to make his command and his poor Sarah lost more blood.

A pop as two bodies flashed into being in the little room as he struggled to strengthen his grip on the time steam.

"Jareth! Oh thank the Goddess-" A gasp as she saw what was in arms and next thing he knew she was kneeling beside him. "Sweetling? OH! Oh no… the artery has been hit-" she trailed off as a growl eased out of her throat, lighting her form up with her healing strength and she shoved it _all_ into Sarah's body, trying to stabilize the girl before she bled out from the damage to her subclavian artery and trying to minimize the additional damage to the muscles and nerves that surrounded it.

The Dragon shrugged off his jacket, folding it up for Jareth to place under Sarah's head, before nodding to himself.

"You two seem to have this under control. I think I will go find the source of all this trouble and see if I can locate our missing pair of mortals."

Jareth nodded, grateful that the dragon had remembered Sarah's friends when he himself had forgotten.

"Be as fast as possible and careful of that weapon. I can not hold all of time for more then maybe ten or twenty minutes."

A nod of acknowledgment before the dragon slipped out the door of the closet and Jareth had to concentrate his already failing powers on not freezing the dragon in the time lock too.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

He returned to the present. The newspapers had reported 3 students' dead, 7 including his Sarah critically injured and 20 others with non-life threatening injuries. Grace had been alright, but only because Zac had protected her body with his own. He was still on life support in the hospital. The police had found the gunman slowly bleeding out from deep wounds to his body, though what had been the cause of the damage was up for some debate; as they matched no know weapon or animal.

Gwen had managed to stabilize Sarah enough to move her but could do no more without taking her to one of two places to boost the healing magic she still had left. The Spring of Healing which sat in the middle of their mother's castle, or Gwen's own carefully made Healing chamber. Healing mortals was never easy due to their own lack of magic to assist the healer and the fact that there were some things that their bodies did not expect to be able to heal.

He had asked Levi to see the two women to Gwen's castle before he had teleported to a local hospital with Zac and left him on a gurney in plain view of the frozen doctors, Grace left in a chair near him to answer any questions the doctors may have, as Gwen would not be able to help him anytime soon and this way he would be assured the care he desperately needed. He was just teleporting out when his magic gave out and the hold he had over time snapped and broke the glamour he had been wearing all night. Too drained to replace it he had simply teleported as he was into the Williams living room. He had popped into the middle of the room they were in, watching on their T.V. for some sign of their daughter. Toby, almost forgotten in his playpen, was the first person to react to his sudden appearance.

"Gobwin! Gobwins have Sarah?"

Ignoring the still stunned adults for the moment he had lowered himself to the boy's level and conjured a crystal to show the boy only his sister's sleeping face.

"Yes, the goblins have Sarah."

He had spent the reminder of the night and part of the morning explaining as much as possible to her parents. Proving magic to them had been fairly easy after appearing out of thin air, he simply enchanted the T.V. , after Toby had been rushed to bed to show them where their daughter was. He had considered using a crystal but by using the T.V. he could fix it in place more easily and they would be able to see her anytime. Gwen had been too busy desperately working to heal the damage done to Sarah to stop him from making the Williams a window so they could check up on their daughter, and Levi was too busy rushing around following Gwen's shouted orders for supplies and ointments, to point it out to her.

It was now nearly a week later, yet he still sat as had since arriving at Gwen's castle, holding her hand, in a chair Gwen had conjured for him once she realized he was not going to leave. He had been lucky and there had been no Runners to deal with, and Gwen had brought him trays when she came to check up on her friend, hoping to get him to eat something.

Sarah could not wake up.

"Jareth?" He raised his eyes at the soft male voice, only to see Richard Williams standing in the doorway, looking as weary as Jareth felt.

"Mr. Williams."

Gwen stood just behind the man, which of course let Jareth know who had turned the Window he had left them in to a Door.

"I asked your sister if I could trade you places. Before you argue, let me finish. You are going to need rest; otherwise you won't be able to help her when she wakes up, even if it's only a couple hours to grab a shower and some food. I promise I will sit right there and not move until you come back."

He really looked at the man that was Sarah's father, because in all truth the man had every right to want to sit at his daughter's bedside.

"It will not help. _She_ is not in there. It prevents me from simply rewinding time to fix this and she _**will not**_ wake until it allows." With a sigh he turned his attention back to Sarah. "It has sent her soul somewhere and I _**cannot**_ find it."

"It?" Richard Williams asked them, as Gwen conjured another chair and lead her guest to it. Seating him gave her a clear view of her brother's face and the despair on it gave her the answer.

"The Labyrinth."

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Okay so now you have more answers. Sarah is and isn't with the older Jareth and now you know why he is in bad shape. The poor man, I seem to like to torture him.

I hope that no one was offended by this chapter, that wasn't my intention. I simply needed a way to get her back to the past and had to write the prom as well.

**SubClavian Artery- **On the front of the body it is mostly unprotected in between the start of the Humerus and Clavicle. A lot of important things run through there actually. In lay mans terms roughly between the collarbone and the start of the arm. A bullet of significant size causes the surrounding skin and muscles to visibly ripple like water which _can_ cause additional damage. For a picture I found a Wiki page with a rather good one and everything that goes through there is listed.

.

I don't do guns, so please don't ask me what kind of gun it was or bullet. I would think an SMG or assault rifle of some kind and maybe a .38 or bigger? Best guess.

**Emberlily**- There you are. That's what he thinks of her mostly absence. =) which was probably really mean of me to do. But I have always desperately wanted to know _why_ Sarah was the girl the King feel in love with. Now though I have created my own paradox, which is really going to bug me.

**Joesette**- There you are, more wonderful little secrets! And darling it's my job to tease you with the snips, hence the story name. =) OH and the next part will take care of the memory question for you; they ARE on a timer way back when.

**VampireMafiaQueen**- Thank you, I am grateful that you think it is a nice read. And I figure they would have enough problems, with out worrying over how to see each other. Two different worlds, species and ways of life are enough for any couple.

**LOLgirl**- There you are, what Jareth wore to prom. I hope it walked the fine line between what we would be okay with and his own style. And I thought the textures were a nice added touch on his part. I had him in basically painted on leather the first time, suit shaped of course, but I thought that might not go over so well with her parents.

_**Kaytori**_- He is _such_ an over protective brother. I love it! I hope I cleared up most of the confusion you had with the chapter and I will explain how Sarah has a body, toward the end of her Journey to the past. (Ha! That's a song from a kid's movie =})

What you guys should be asking is what the Labyrinth used Jareth's magic for . . . =} bet none of you thought of that yet. =}

I am going to remind you guys that at this point, neither of them has actually _said_ the word "love". Even young Jareth's wish is for the "person who cares the most about him." before any of you asked he worded that way because he was afraid if he used love it would have been his mother. It has been _thought_, mostly by Sarah but not said because there is a difference between knowing something and being told that what you know really is true.

As always a large thank you to everybody for your reviews!

Till next time guy! (This could be awhile if Hoggle remains stubborn!)

Ja ne

Kat


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